Moto2: Martin victorious in Valencia

The 14th round of the 2020 Moto2 World Championship, the Grand Prix of Valencia, took place in the Ricardo Tormo circuit, with Stefano Manzi starting from a career first pole position.

It was a good launch from pole sitter Manzi, but it was Jorge Martin who took the holeshot and the early lead. Further back, it was a good start from Luca Marini who went from 10th on the grid to sixth after the first split.

On lap three, there was a breakaway group of four, with Martin, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Manzi, and Marco Bezzecchi edging away, although Bezzecchi passed Manzi for third as they went onto the fourth lap.

Bezzecchi’s climb up the order continued on the next lap, as a mistake from Martin had a domino effect on Di Giannantonio, and allowed the #72 into second place at the beginning of lap five. Finally, the Italian’s charge to the front was completed at the end of the very same lap, as he passed Martin for the lead into the final corner. 

Martin then slipped back to third on lap six, as Di Giannantonio moved through a turn four; while behind the gap was closing to Marcel Schrotter and Hector Garzo in fifth and sixth, respectively. 

The pressure really ramped up on Manzi in fourth on lap eight, as after passing Schrotter for fifth on lap seven, Garzo set a searing pace to catch the #62, before passing him at the first turn on lap nine. 

Garzo was then able to latch on to the front three of Bezzecchi, Di Giannantonio and Martin, as Manzi started to slip back into the clutches of Schrotter, who in turn had been caught by Luca Marini and Enea Bastianini as the first 10 laps came to a close.

The mid-part of the race was very tense, even if nothing much happened. Each of the top eight or nine riders were pretty much line astern, and finding a way through proved challenging. This suited Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio, who were eventually able to pull away from Garzo behind to the tune of around one second.

It looked like the battle for the lead would be held exclusively between the two Italians in the closing stages, but some strong pace from Jorge Martin in the final five laps brough both himself and Garzo back into contention with three laps to go. 

Sensing the danger coming from behind, Di Giannantonio hit the front on the penultimate lap at turn 11 – a move he had tried previously but undid with a mistake at turn 14 on the same lap – and pulled the pin. At the first split on the final lap the #21 was half a second clear of Bezzecchi, but the #72 regained the lead at turn six when Di Giannantonio threw away the win. 

If Bezzecchi could complete the remaining 12 turns in the lead, he would be within reasonable range of the world title with one round to go in Portimao, but both Martin and Garzo were close. 

Martin tried to move down the inside into turn 11, sensing Bezzecchi’s lack of edge grip that was the cause of his late race issues, but backed out. The #72’s strong point throughout the race had been drive grip on the shoulder of the tyre, and that meant that through turn 13 Bezzecchi was very strong. Martin had been victim to this earlier in the race and, as such, the Spaniard knew he had to make the move before the final corner.

Martin passed in turn 12, forcing Bezzecchi wide, but he ran wide himself on the exit, giving the Italian the chance to out-drive him and cut across the front in turn 13, potentially. However, the arrival of Hector Garzo on Bezzecchi’s inside caused the Italian to sit up, in turn letting Martin off the hook into the final corner that he defended well, in any case. 

It was a brilliant final lap victory from Martin who, at half distance, looked as though his victory chances were over. It was Martin’s second win of the season and, although it did not change much for his own chances, the points it cost Marco Bezzecchi could have been fatal for the #72’s championship.

After turn six on the final lap Bezzecchi was 14 points down on Bastianini in the championship, but the nine points lost in the exchange at turns 12 and 13 mean the Italian goes to Portimao 23 points down on his compatriot, the #33. 

The championship changes that took place in the final lap should not be allowed to overshadow the maiden podium of Hector Garzo, though. The Spaniard is still without a confirmed ride for 2021, but his form of late has been strong, and to cap that off with a first ever trip to a World Championship rostrum is a strong advertisement from the #40. 

Di Giannantonio’s late crash promoted Marcel Schrotter to fourth place, his best result since his podium in Austria. The German spent the majority of the second half of the race fending off Luca Marini and Enea Bastianini, a task in which he was ultimately successful. 

Schrotter’s success meant that despite being seventh at the end of the first lap, Marini made up only two positions from there in the race, and both of those courtesy of crashes – first for Manzi and then for Di Giannantonio. It also meant that the #10 finished only one place and one point better off than Bastianini, who finished behind him in sixth, and so has to make up 18 points in Portimao next weekend if he is to be crowned World Champion. 

Although he came away with only a sixth place, it was a fantastic points day for Bastianini, whose closest rival ahead of the final round next weekend is the injured Sam Lowes. While Lowes may be stronger in Portimao compared to Valencia, he will need to recover 14 points on Bastianini if he is to win his second world title after finishing 14th today in Valencia. It is a tough ask for Lowes, but the result is reflective of Bastianini’s overwhelming consistency throughout the year, where he has crashed out of a race only once – in Austria – and finished outside of the top six on only three occasions – Spain, Styria and France. There is no doubting the justification of crowning Bastianini champion, should the results allow it in Portimao. 

Behind Bastianini was the dramatically ill Remy Gardner in eighth place, ahead of Nicolo Bulega who took a second top 10 of both the season and the last seven days with ninth place, ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri who recovered from a bad start to complete the top 10. 

Joe Roberts could not match the pace that saw him be predicted as a pre-race favourite last weekend, and finished 11th, ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima, and three of the walking wounded, with Xavi Vierge in 13th, the aforementioned Sam Lowes in 14th and Augusto Fernandez in 15th to take the final point. 

Tom Luthi couldn’t have had a much worse 300th Grand Prix, finishing down in 16th, ahead of Simone Corsi, Somkiat Chantra, Hafizh Syahrin and Kasma Daniel who completed the top 20; while Piotr Biesiekirski was 21st and last. 

Marcos Ramirez was the first retirement as he crashed out at turn six on lap six; before Andi Izdihar crashed out, as well as Stefano Manzi who fell from the leading group in turn two on lap 10. Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Jorge Navarro, Aron Canet, Edgar Pons and the aforementioned Di Giannantonio all also retired, Navarro while pressuring Luca Marini as he looked to make his way to the podium fight.