Moto2: Marini bags Barcelona pole, Bastianini 10th

The Moto2 World Championship is back in action this weekend for round nine of its 2020 season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Sam Lowes had been the fastest rider in free practice. 

In Q1, Joe Roberts topped the session from Jake Dixon, Jorge Navarro and Nicolo Bulega – those four all moving through to Q2. 

Q2 was dominated by Luca Marini. He set his stall out fairly early on, hitting the top of the session in the opening stages, and from there gradually improved until the grip in the tyre had gone and the Michelin MotoGP rubber had been coated by the Dunlop Moto2 rubber, meaning better times were hard to come by. A second pole position in seven days gives Marini his second chance to convert pole position to a victory this season, having had that chance denied one week ago partly by the weather and partly by some purposeful overtaking by Enea Bastianini. Having had his championship advantage cut last weekend to five points, it is important for the #10 that he takes back some momentum this weekend ahead of a rare weekend off.

Marini will be joined on the front row by Jorge Navarro and Sam Lowes. Navarro’s weekend has been complicated but the fact he is in the front row is a positive in itself after a difficult 2020 that has seen some bad luck mixed with some mistakes of his own making to leave him out of championship contention already. 

On the other hand, Lowes has been relatively consistent this year, with the (fairly sizeable) blot on his copybook coming in Styria where he took out Navarro and Somkiat Chantra. It was an uncharacteristic mistake from Lowes and his response in Misano was impressive, finishing in the top 10 from pit lane in San Marino before taking his second podium of the season in Emilia Romagna. There are still faint glimmers of hope for Lowes regarding the championship, so disturbing Marini’s rhythm early on tomorrow will be critical for the #22. 

Matching Navarro’s improvements this weekend, Fabio Di Giannantonio qualified a season-best fourth on the #21 Speed Up. The Italian has struggled this year similarly to his teammate, and similarly in contrast to the form of Aron Canet and, at times, Hafizh Syahrin on the Aspar-run Speed Up chassis’. Again, though, like Navarro, Di Giannantonio appears to have improved this weekend, building on progress made in Misano. With low grip in Barcelona and lots of spin as a result, Speed Up’s gentle treatment of its tyres could put it in a position to challenge the Kalex hegemony tomorrow, and potentially with both riders. 

Jake Dixon will start alongside Di Giannantonio on the second row, the #96’s fifth-placed qualifying no doubt strengthening his case to remain with the Petronas Sprinta Racing team for 2021. 

The second row is completed by Marco Bezzecchi, who arguably had more potential but made a mistake in turn 10 and what was set to be his fastest lap. However, sixth is not a disaster for the #72, although if Marini is able to get into his rhythm it could be a damage limitation job for the only rider to be on the podium in each of the last three races.

Row three will be headed up by Joe Roberts, who is one place ahead of his Tennor American Racing teammate, Marcos Ramirez, whilst the third row is rounded out by Xavi Vierge. 

Remy Gardner completed the top 10 in qualifying but a six-place grid penalty for crashing under yellow flag conditions means the Australian will start from 16th. Therefore, Enea Bastianini is promoted to the front of the fourth row, although this is hardly game changing for the #33 who will be hoping to leave Barcelona having conceded as few points as possible to his title rivals, Marini and Bezzecchi, who have a sizeable advantage from the grid. Tom Luthi – who has announced that he will be joining the ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team for 2021 following the news of Tony Arbolino’s arrival for next year in the Intact GP squad – and Augusto Fernandez will join last week’s race winner on row four.

Behind, Jorge Martin will head up row five on his return to action after his coronavirus-induced absence from Misano. The #88 will have Marcel Schrotter and Nicolo Bulega for company; whilst Remy Gardner will start from the front of the sixth row following his penalty, and will be joined by Edgar Pons and Tetsuta Nagashima who was the slowest of the 18 Q2 competitors.

Aron Canet looked in line to advance to Q2 but was knocked out after he already ended his Q1 session early. That meant the Spaniard managed only 19th on the grid, ahead of Stefano Manzi and Simone Corsi on row seven; whilst Hector Garzo heads up row eight from Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Lorenzo Baldassarri; and Hafizh Syahrin fronts the ninth row, the Malaysian being joined by Somkiat Chantra and Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin. 

On the back row, Andi Izdihar finds himself in an NTS sandwich, with Bo Bendsneyder ahead of him and Piotr Biesiekirski behind him, the young Polish rider qualifying last again in his second Grand Prix as he continues his fill-in duties in the absence of Jesko Raffin.