Moto2: Bastianini Wins Red-Flagged Emilia Romagna Race

The Moto2 World Championship was in action at Misano for the second time in one week for the eighth round of their 2020 season. The appearance of dark clouds before the race presented conditions that differed to any other time the riders had been on track since last Friday. 

A good start from Luca Marini had him leading into turn one, until Xavi Vierge out-braked him when they arrived at the corner. Marco Bezzecchi was in third place, ahead of Enea Bastianini. 

At the start of lap two, Bezzecchi nearly ran into the back of his teammate, Marini, and went wide in avoidance in turn one. That put Bastianini on the rear wheel of his championship rival, Marini, and he was able to turn a mistake into a block pass at turn four on the second lap, moving up to second. 

Marini also dropped behind Jake Dixon as a result of the move from Bastianini, but was able to come back through and by lap four the #10 and the #33 had swapped positions once more. 

Vierge remained resilient out front, though, the #97 proving especially strong in the hard braking zone which made him hard to pass. This lasted until rain began to fall, which slowed Vierge’s pace and saw Bastianini move through on Marini and Vierge to take the lead. Marini also passed Vierge, but soon after, the red flag came out due to the rain and the absence of flag-to-flag rules for Moto2.

After a long wait for the conditions, the race restarted with Bastianini on pole from Marini and Vierge for a 10-lap sprint race. The reduction in race length saw many riders switch to the soft tyre, whilst Vierge and Marini both stuck with the hard-compound.

Vierge did not make as good a start as he did in the first start, and instead it was Marini who passed Bastianini into turn one to take the holeshot. Marini’s lead did not last long, however, as Bastianini passed him four turns into the restarted race in much the same way as he did in the first start, forcing both himself and Marini wide. 

The move promoted Vierge into the lead, had Bastianini stay put in second but dropped Marini to sixth and left the #10 with a lot of work to do in the remaining laps. 

It did not take long for Bastianini to take the lead, passing Vierge soon after the Spaniard inherited the lead courtesy of the #33’s aggressive move on Marini, and from there the two-time winner in 2020 bolted. 

Behind, the pressure was amassing on the shoulders of Vierge, who had Marcel Schrotter behind him. Schrotter’s attempt at passing the Spaniard did not go entirely to plan, as the two made contact in turn nine that put Vierge on the floor and out of the race, much to the annoyance of the #97. The contact also sent Schrotter wide and allowed Marco Bezzecchi and Sam Lowes into second and third, respectively. 

Schrotter, now, was under pressure from Marini, the Italian having struggled to rediscover his pace after the move of Bastianini. Marini was able to make the move for fourth in turn eight, and set his sights back on the podium. 

The top three was a fair way up the road, though, and all three riders had the soft-compound rear tyre. Bezzecchi was closing on Bastianini in a way that was reminiscent of his hunt of Jorge Martin in the Styrian Grand Prix. This time, as in Styria, Bezzecchi fell just short of his target by the end of the race, finishing half-a-second behind the winner, Bastianini. 

It was an important win for the Italtrans rider, who had not stood on the top step since Brno and had lost points compared to Marini and Bezzecchi in every race since then. This victory helped to swing the momentum back in the favour of ‘La Bestia’, who now goes to Barcelona –  the site of his first World Championship podium in the 2014 Moto3 race – just five points behind Marini. 

Whilst he missed the victory, Bezzecchi’s second place was important for his championship, and the Italian is now just 20 points down on his teammate with a chance to continue the momentum in one week’s time in Montmelo. 

Sam Lowes completed the podium, his second top three of the season. Had he started further up, the Brit could have fought for the victory – the same could be said for Bezzecchi. The 16 points taken here move the #22 up to fourth in the championship, ahead of the absent Martin. 

In the end, it was fourth for Marini, who was picking up his pace towards the end but will perhaps regret not running the soft tyre for the restart. The positive for the #10 is that he maintains his championship lead, but the second races of these double headers in 2020 continue to be problematic – in one way or another – for him.

Marcel Schrotter completed the top five having been unable to respond to the pass of Marini. Behind the German was Jake Dixon, who took his best Moto2 finish of sixth place, ahead of the two Speed Up riders with Jorge Navarro ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio. Tom Luthi was ninth, whilst Nicolo Bulega completed the top 10. 

Hector Garzo was 11th over the line for one of his best showings of the season, the Spaniard finishing ahead of Simone Corsi, Aron Canet, Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Stefano Manzi who completed the points. 

Mattia Pasini just missed the points in 16th in his replacement ride for Jorge Martin. Behind the Italian was Marcos Ramirez, who was 17th, ahead of Augusto Fernandez, Hafizh Syahrin and Edgar Pons who completed the top 20. 

Somkiat Chantra was 21st for Honda Team Asia, the Thai rider ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima