Moto2 Brno J3 Race: Solo victory for Bastianini, first American podium since 1993 with Roberts

The fight raged throughout free practice between Sam Lowes, Luca Marini, Joe Roberts and Enea Bastianini but it was ultimately the American who had the last word by signing his second pole position of the year, after that of Qatar. Lowes and Bastianini will not be far behind when the lights go out, however, as the two men complete the front row. For his part, Luca Marini will only start tenth, when his teammate Marco Bezzecchi will start fifth. Between him and the leading peloton, an astonishing Hafizh Syahrin came to set the fourth time after very difficult qualifying during the first three Grands Prix.

Will the final trio still be 100% Italian like in Jerez two weeks ago? Nothing is less certain, because the American, the Englishman and the Malaysian are ready to do battle, without forgetting Jorge Martín, Marcel Schrötter and Augusto Fernández, who are closely following them.

Before launching hostilities, here is a summary table of the times of the different sessions:

Brno Moto2™	2019	2020
FP1	2'02.080 Tetsuta Nagashima	2'02.480 Sam Lowes
FP2	2'01.695 Fabio Di Giannantonio	2'02.689 Enea Bastianini
FP3	2'01.747 Nicolò Bulega	2'01.809 Sam Lowes
Q1	2'13.565 Remy Gardner	2'02.093 Fabio Di Giannantonio
Q2	2'06.787 Alex Marquez	2'01.692 Joe Roberts
warm up	2'01.681 Fabio Di Giannantonio	2'02.921 Sam Lowes
Course	Marquez, Di Giannantonio, Bastianini
All time lap record	2'01.463 Alex Márquez (2019)

A driver is missing when performing the warm-up lap: Simone Courses, qualified in 20th position, fractured a toe on his right foot and was declared unfit to ride.

It's already quite hot when the board is positioned on the grid with more than 30 degrees in the air and 43 degrees on the track. When the lights go out, we go for 19 laps, and it's Enea Bastianini who gets the best start. He took the lead at the first corner, in front Joe Roberts et Sam Lowes. The two men in turn passed through Jorge Martín.

The Italian driver already has a one second lead at the start of the second lap, ahead Lowes et Roberts who have ironed Martín. Come next Marcel Schrötter, Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini, Augusto Fernandez, Xavi Virgo et Hafiz Syahrin.

After five laps, the gap of bastianini with his pursuers is still stable, with eight seconds, while Lowes et Roberts are 1,5 seconds ahead of the chasing group led by Martín. Kasma Daniel makes a mistake.

Bezzecchi takes fourth place Martín, who finds himself sandwiched between the two teammates of the Sky VR46 team since Marini is just behind. Héctor Garzo crash in turn 13.

At the halfway mark, bastianini still leads but Lowes rises again, taking in its wake Roberts, which is slightly further away. The gap with their pursuers hasn't really changed, and it's still Bezzecchi who takes the group. Marini for its part exceeded Martín, as Fernandez. The 3 Moto2018 World Champion finds himself seventh, ahead Jorge Navarro, Syahrin et Schrötter, which also lost several places.

The best rookie in the Championship, Aron Canet, is for its part at the gates of the top 10, in eleventh position, ahead Tetsuta nagashima. The category leader is in difficulty this weekend.

Jake dixon gives up, while Marinithen Fernandez, double Bezzecchi and find themselves fourth and fifth. Bezzecchi does not give up and fights back against the Spaniard to stay in the top 5.

Seven laps from the end, Stefano manzi fall in turn 11. Ahead, Lowes unable to return to bastianini which manages its gap of eight tenths. However, the Englishman has been waiting for this victory for four years. Behind him, the gap with Roberts now stands at 1,5 seconds. If the American makes no mistakes, he will give the United States their first podium in the intermediate category since John Kocinski in 1993!

Fernandez had the last word on Bezzecchi, but fourth place will not be possible since Marini took cover with a lead of 1,2 seconds. On your mind, bastianini there is heat.

Two laps from the finish, the gaps increase in the top 3, and apart from a racing incident, the positions seem sealed.

And indeed, at the checkered flag, bastianini signs a double after his victory a fortnight ago, and also takes the lead in the Championship. Roberts for his part, reached the first podium of his career. Lowes ends between the two men.

Moto2 Brno ranking – Race:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com