Moto2: Valencian victory for Bezzecchi as Lowes crashes out

Round 13 of the 2020 Moto2 World Championship took place in Valencia for the European Grand Prix. Xavi Vierge started from pole position, with Joe Roberts and championship leader Sam Lowes also starting from the front row. 

It was a strong start from Vierge as he made the holeshot, as well as from Marco Bezzecchi who was third as they emerged from turn one. Lowes, on the other hand, went backwards and dropped to sixth. 

Roberts tried to take the lead at turn four, but ran wide on the exit allowing Vierge to respond. A second attempt came from Roberts two turns later at turn six, and this time the #16 made it stick.

It was Roberts who led the first lap from Vierge, although the Spaniard lost out to Bezzecchi into turn one, while Remy Gardner was fourth and Sam Lowes capitalised on a mistake from Jorge Martin to take fourth place into turn two. 

The lead did not last long for Roberts, handing it to Bezzecchi when he crashed at turn two on the second lap. The American had chosen a new, softer front tyre from Dunlop and was keen to break away at the front as the lack of dry running through the weekend meant that it was unclear how the tyres would wear. Pushing too hard too soon, the #16 lost the front and his victory chances were over. 

By the third lap it was becoming clear that Vierge was struggling to stick the pace. He had been passed by Gardner who was now pressuring Bezzecchi for the lead, and Sam Lowes had a go at removing the Spaniard from the podium places at turn eight, although the #22 ran wide and lost the front, handing the position back to the #97 but hanging on ahead of Jorge Martin. 

Lowes was able to pass Vierge eventually on lap five, and then set on after the leading two of Bezzecchi and Gardner. 

As Bezzecchi was getting away out front and with pressure now coming from behind once more in the shape of Jorge Martin, Lowes was becoming more intent on finding a way through on Gardner after 10 laps, when the #22 made his move at turn 11 and moved up into second place. 

Martin passed Gardner half a lap after Lowes, at turn four on lap 11, while the Briton was chasing Bezzecchi whose advantage stood at just under one second at the beginning of the 11th lap. 

Bezzecchi was able to respond to the incoming pressure from those behind and was able to stabilise the gap at around half a second. This stalemate was the position of the race for five laps, when Sam Lowes crashed out at turn six. 

This was huge for the championship. Lowes was imperious in Teruel and had won the previous three races in succession before the European Grand Prix. The #22 was moving strongly towards the championship until this mistake on lap 16, for which Marco Bezzecchi was in the prime position to punish him. 

The race settled down in the closing stages, with Bezzecchi edging away from Martin, who in turn was pulling clear of Gardner. 

It was a magnificent ride from Bezzecchi, who never looked back once he took the lead and was able to manage the race well, putting the bed the demons of a disastrous Aragon double header and moving somewhat back into championship contention, with a deficit of 29 points. 

Jorge Martin was also strong in second place, despite just missing the pace at the end of the race to challenge the #72, and completing the podium was Gardner who was fairly anonymous for a lot of the race, staying quiet and going about his business to bring home his third podium of the season. 

Enea Bastianini may have regretted his choice of the new soft Dunlop front tyre, but nonetheless the #33 came away from the European Grand Prix with the championship lead after Lowes’ crash. The Italtrans rider now has a six-point lead to defend in the Valencian Grand Prix next weekend. 

Bastianini was in a battle for fourth with the two Flexbox HP 40 riders towards the end of the race, and obviously came out on top of it. Nonetheless, having fought for the top five for the whole race, Lorenzo Baldassarri can be content with his best finish since he was on the podium in Qatar. It has been a tough season for the #7, but his form finally seems to be returning. 

Baldassarri’s teammate, Hector Garzo, was in sixth for much of the race, but was picked off by Luca Marini at the end. Marini’s confidence and physical condition took something of a beating after his monster high side in Le Mans, and after falling 25 points down in the championship after Teruel things looked bleak for his championship hopes. Yet, on the weekend where he was confirmed to be Bastianini’s teammate in the Esponsorama Racing team in MotoGP for 2021, Marini was able to take his ebay finish since he won in Barcelona with sixth. Combined with Lowes’ fall, this moves Marini back into title contention with a 19-point deficit as two rounds remain. 

Hector Garzo ended up seventh, ahead of Nicolo Bulega who had his best finish of the season in eighth. Xavi Vierge’s pace suffered at the end of the race and he fell back to ninth, ahead of Jorge Navarro who completed the top 10. 

Aron Canet was 11th, ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima, Marcel Schrotter, Bo Bendsneyder and Stefano Manzi who took the final point in 15th. 

Marcos Ramirez just missed out on points in 16th, ahead of Edgar Pons, Andi Izdihar, Tom Luthi and Lorenzo Dalla Porta who completed the top 20; while Kasma Daniel was 21st ahead of Piotr Biesiekirski, the final classified finisher in 22nd.

Hafizh Syahrin and Joe Roberts were the first retirements. Fabio Di Giannantonio, Simone Corsi, Somkiat Chantra and the aforementioned Sam Lowes all also crashed out.