Moto2: Marini Smashes Misano Lap Record for Emilia Romagna Pole

The Moto2 World Championship was in action yet again in Misano as qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix got underway for round eight of the 2020 season. Enea Bastianini entered qualifying as the fastest rider of the weekend, but things were close with also Sam Lowes, Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi looking strong after free practice.

In Q1, Lorenzo Dalla Porta was fastest ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio, Jorge Martin’s replacement Mattia Pasini and Hector Garzo, who all moved through to Q2. 

When it came to Q2, no one could beat Luca Marini. The Italian bettered the all-time lap record set by Enea Bastianini in FP3 by almost 0.4 seconds and, whilst Marco Bezzecchi was able to come close later on in Q2, the #72 was not able to better his teammate. Marini’s pace will also be a worry for his rivals, who yesterday watched him lap comfortably in the 1’36s in FP2 for almost the whole session on race tyres. 

It will be a tough job for anyone to challenge the #10 tomorrow, but perhaps Bezzecchi will be up to it. He qualified second today, ensuring a Sky VR46 1-2 on the grid, and last week was able to challenge his teammate for almost the whole race. But, whichever way you look at it, the current moment is quite a good one if you are inside that VR46 outfit. 

Joining the teammates on the front row is Xavi Vierge. He was able to run the pace of the podium finishers last weekend on his way to fourth place, so starting with them could prove fruitful for the Spaniard. 

Sam Lowes will start from the front of row two. Unfortunately for the Brit, he was not able to repeat his pole position performance of last week when he was forced to start from pit lane, but in any case he should be in the fight for the podium tomorrow, starting from fourth alongside Enea Bastianini and Aron Canet, whose physical condition has clearly recovered after his struggles of last week.

On row three, Jake Dixon will start from seventh ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Jorge Navarro; whilst Nicolo Bulega completes the qualifying top 10 and will start from the front of the fourth row tomorrow. The Italian will be joined by Marcel Schrotter and Augusto Fernandez on the fourth row; whilst Tetsuta Nagashima is joined by his temporary teammate Mattia Pasini and Hector Garzo on row five. 

Tom Luthi has had a difficult weekend and will start from 16th alongside Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Joe Roberts who was the slowest of the 18 Q2 runners. 

Lorenzo Baldassarri was frustrated as his struggles continued. The Italian could only manage fifth-fastest in Q1 meaning he will start from 19th tomorrow, to be joined on the seventh row by Marcos Ramirez and Stefano Manzi, the #62 losing three tenths of a second in the back straight alone. 

On row eight, Edgar Pons will start from 22nd, alongside Bo Bendsneyder and Hafizh Syahrin who recovered to 10th after a crash early in Q1 to qualify 24th; whilst Simone Corsi will start from the head of row nine and will start ahead of Somkiat Chantra and Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin. Andi Izdihar will start from 28th, at the head of the 10th row, whilst Piotr Biesiekirski, riding in place of the ill Jesko Raffin, will start 29th and last on the 18-year-old’s Grand Prix debut.