Moto2: Bastianini Takes First Win, Nagashima Struggles

Round three of the 2020 Moto2 World Championship took place in Jerez, for the first ever Andalusian Grand Prix. As the Spanish Grand Prix that preceded it by one week at the same venue, the Andalusian round was characterised by hot, gruelling temperatures.

The race belonged entirely to Enea Bastianini. The Italian made the holeshot, led the first lap, the last lap, and every lap in between. There was pressure from Luca Marini in the middle of the race, and a mistake from the #33 at turn eight as a sign of that. But the response from the Italtrans rider was strong, and in the final ten laps he stretched the gap out to over three seconds, and proved dominant in the end to take his first Moto2 win and move to within two points of the championship lead.

Luca Marini held on for second place, and important points for his championship efforts. Behind Marini was Marco Bezzecchi, who took his first Moto2 podium despite a broken talus bone for the #72. The SKY Racing Team VR46 squad are certainly seeming to be a strong outfit in the 2020 Moto2 World Championship, this their first double podium in the intermediate class since Francesco Bagnaia won the Moto2 title at Sepang in 2018, when Marini was victorious. 

Sam Lowes was once again closing on the podium at the end of the race, as last week when it was Jorge Martin who beat him to third. This time, once again, Lowes’ pace came just slightly too late to overcome Bezzecchi. The Brit’s four-year wait for a podium continues, but this is nonetheless the best form he has seen since his win in Aragon, 2016.

Aron Canet’s impressive form at the start of his Moto2 career continued, as he took another top five for Aspar. It was a lonely ride for Canet, who was not as fast as the four in front, but comfortably faster than those behind. He continues to be the standout rider for Speed Up in 2020. 

Jorge Martin chose the soft-compound front tyre, which looked to be a mistake. The Spaniard went from third last week to sixth this week. 20-3-6 is perhaps not the sequence the Spaniard imagined he would start the season with, and he has work to do in the championship.

Tom Luthi made progress this weekend, but like Martin chose the soft front tyre, which meant his pace started to suffer quite early and the Swiss ended up seventh. Six seconds back of the #12 was Xavi Vierge, who won out in a four-way fight for eighth. The Spaniard beat out Stefano Manzi, who came from 19th for his first top ten of the season in ninth, Marcel Schrotter who completed the top ten, and Tetsuta Nagashima who came back from 19th at the end of lap one to finish 11th, enough to hold onto his championship lead.

Nicolo Bulega was in the aforementioned fight for eighth, but his pace suffered in the final stages and the Italian finished 12th in the end. Behind was Augusto Fernandez, ahead of Remy Gardner and the sole Andalusian rider on the grid, Marcos Ramirez who took his first point in the Moto2 World Championship.

16th went to Edgar Pons, who was only 0.108 seconds away from a point, but nonetheless ahead of 17th-placed Joe Roberts. Fabio Di Giannantonio could only manage 18th, ahead of Bo Bendsneyder and Andi Izdihar who completed the top 20 and was the final classified rider. 

Jake Dixon was the first retirement on lap three, before Kasma Daniel went down a lap later. Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Hector Garzo both went down on lap five, Garzo at turn nine. Somkiat Chantra crashed one lap after Dalla Porta and Garzo, before Jorge Navarro’s championship hopes took a sizeable hit as he went down at turn nine. Hafizh Syahrin was the next to go on lap thirteen, before Simone Corsi, and finally Lorenzo Baldassarri retired, Baldassarri going down in the same place as his teammate, Garzo.