Moto2: Marini Dominates in Jerez for First Win of 2020

As the Moto2 World Championship got back underway in Jerez for the Spanish Grand Prix, there were certain similarities with the opener in Qatar, although a critical difference as Luca Marini took his first win of the season.

From pole position, however, it was Jorge Martin who took the holeshot ahead of Aron Canet and Luca Marini.

Marini was fast in taking second place away from Canet, and it took him only a few more laps to wrestle the lead away from Martin. As Marini was progressing, so was Qatar winner Tetsuta Nagashima, who was able to jump up to fourth place whilst Marini got to the front, before passing Canet for third and setting his sights on his Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate, Martin.

It was perhaps surprising when Nagashima eventually passed Martin for second to take up the chase of Marini. Although Nagashima’s win in Qatar was done entirely on merit, it was also the Japanese rider’s first podium in Grand Prix racing, so it was possible to see it as a one-off. Additionally, Nagashima had not shone especially brightly in Jerez on Friday or Saturday, qualifying only eighth. However, the remainder of the race proved Nagashima’s pedigree in this year’s Moto2 World Championship, as he chased Marini for 20 laps and kept the pressure on the Italian.

There were times when Nagashima seemed to have the pace to close Marini down, but a few mistakes dissuaded the championship leader, who chose in the closing stages to preserve his points advantage rather than pushing on the limit to take a second career win. 

The #45 was able to relax his pace slightly in the closing stages with safety, since he and Marini had been able to pull clear of Martin behind, who was in the final laps dealing with pressure from Sam Lowes, who came on strong in the second half of the race. 

But the victory belonged to Luca Marini, who was dominant in Spain to take his first win at a European race in the World Championship, and his fourth in total. It was an important victory for Marini after his non-scoring ride in Qatar back in March, and lifted the Italian to third in the championship. With another race in Jerez scheduled for next weekend, he will be the rider with the target on his back after such a performance. 

With Martin far in arrears, Nagashima was safe in second place, and preserved his championship lead, which now stands at 17 points over Lorenzo Baldassarri. 

Despite the late pressure from Lowes, Martin was able to hang on to third place to take his first podium of the season. Like Marini, Martin’s result in Jerez was important to respond to his pointless ride in Qatar, where he finished 20th. 

Although he missed the podium, Sam Lowes can be content with fourth place after he displayed strong pace in the second half of the race. It was a difficult first half for Lowes, who dropped back to sixth for a period, but once he found his rhythm he was able to recover and make a good race. Again, an important points day for Lowes who didn’t ride in Qatar due to injury. 

Aron Canet was fifth, in another impressive ride from the rookie after his Moto2 debut in Qatar resulted in eighth place for the Spanish rookie. Behind Canet was his Aspar teammate, Hafizh Syahrin, who surprised, somewhat, with sixth. Remy Gardner was seventh after a fairly quiet race for the Australian, whilst Lorenzo Baldassarri’s eighth place was enough for him to hold onto second in the championship, although he is now only three points clear of Marini. Enea Bastianini was ninth, and Xavi Vierge completed the top ten. 

Stefano Manzi came from 23rd on the grid to finish 11th with some decent pace late on, although it is still disappointing to see MV Agusta outside the top ten after they finished 2019 so strongly, with Manzi fighting for the podium in Valencia last November. Behind Manzi was Hector Garzo, ahead of the rider he replaced at the Pons Flexbox HP 40 team, Augusto Fernandez, who still has not found a way to be as competitive as he was last season with the Marc VDS team he joined – and with Lowes performing so well the pressure will be on the Spaniard to deliver next weekend. Whichever way you cut it, 13th is not good enough for a Marc VDS rider. 

Nicolo Bulega was 14th on his second ride for Gresini, whilst Simone Corsi completed the points on the second MV Agusta chassis.

Edgar Pons finished just outside the points in 16th, albeit five seconds back of Corsi. Meanwhile, behind Pons was a 1.3-second gap to the star of Qatar, Joe Roberts, who was unable to repeat his form from the opening night of the season and could only manage 17th. Jake Dixon took 18th, ahead of reigning Moto3 World Champion, Lorenzo Dalla Porta, and Andi Izdihar who completed the top 20. 

Jesko Raffin was 21st for NTS, ahead of Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin and Marcos Ramirez who was the 22nd and final classified finisher, one lap down after crashing with Somkiat Chantra on lap 5. 

There were seven retirements, Jorge Navarro being the first after he was hit by Marco Bezzecchi in the first turn. It was unfortunate for Navarro, since he was just unsighted by Bezzecchi who had his own #72 Sky Racing Team VR46 Kalex between him and Navarro’s HDR Heidrun Speed Up. The aforementioned Chantra was the next to go down, in a contact that was much less a racing incident than the one between Bezzecchi and Navarro, with Ramirez quite simply losing control as he pushed over the limit to try to pass Chantra on the inside at turn six; the Spaniard lost the front and there was nothing the Thai rider could do about it. 

Bo Bendsneyder and Marco Bezzecchi both went down a lap after Chantra in unrelated incidents. Although Jorge Navarro will no doubt see Bezzecchi’s crash in turn ten as karma, it will have been a cause of major frustration for Bezzecchi, who was fighting for the podium when he went down. 

One lap after Bendsneyder and Bezzecchi crashed out, so did Marcel Schrotter at the fast turn 11 – the same place where Alex Rins ended his Spanish Grand Prix yesterday in MotoGP qualifying, although it looks like Schrotter escaped relatively unharmed. With Tom Luthi going down at turn nine a few laps after Schrotter’s crash, the first race back proved a painful one for Dynavolt Intact GP, and they will hope for better next weekend. 

Fabio Di Giannantonio was the only other retirement.