Qatar Moto2 Grand Prix, The race live: Lorenzo Baldassarri masterfully!

It's a completely new panorama that the Moto2 category offers us in this 2019 season: new motorcycles with Triumph 765cc engines, new electronics, new colors, new qualifying format, and above all new faces of the intermediate category of the Grands Prix after the start in the premier category of Francesco Bagnaia, Miguel Oliveira, Joan Mir and Fabio Quartararo.

The Moto2 category will nevertheless write its tenth chapter on the Losail track which has already seen the victories of Shoya Tomizawa (2010) Stefan bradl (2011) Marc Márquez (2012) Pol Espargaro (2013) Tito Rabat (2014) Jonas Folger (2015) Tom Luthi (2016) Franco Morbidelli (2017) et Francis Bagnaia (2018)

Since the victory of Marc Márquez in 2012 on a Suter, Kalex won the last six Moto2™ races which took place at Losail and it is probably still among the riders equipped with the German chassis that we will have to look for the 2019 winner.

And there are many contenders, with a grid made up of Marcel Schrötter (Kalex, Dynavolt Intact GP) author of pole position, Xavi Verge (Kalex, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex, Flex-Box Pons HP 40), Luca Marini (Kalex, SKY Racing Team VR46), Remy Gardner (Kalex, Onebox TKKR SAG Team), Sam Lowes (Kalex, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Tom Luthi (Kalex, Dynavolt Intact GP), the most successful rider on the Moto2 entry list in 2019.

Faced with this armada from across the Rhine, Brad Binder and his Austrian KTM from the Red Bull KTM Ajo team seem very lonely, even if the South African remains the second most successful rider in the category, with 10 victories including 3 in Moto2.

Night has now fallen well on the Losail circuit and the racing conditions are looking good, with 21° in the air and a track at 22°. The wind is moderate at less than 10 km/h and, above all, the humidity is currently only 19%.

Here are some references available at the time when 32 pilots are placed on the grid for 20 lap race...

Moto2™ Losail Qatar	2018 (600cc)	2019 (765cc)
FP1	2'01.601 Lorenzo Baldassarri	1'59.591 Marcel Schrötter
FP2	2'00.932 Alex Marquez	1'58.635 Lorenzo Baldassarri
FP3	2'01.928 Alex Marquez	1'59.596 Jorge Martin
QP1	XXX	1'59.154 Luca Marini
QP2	2'00.299 Alex Marquez	1'58.585 Marcel Schröter
Warm Up	2'01.287 Alex Marquez
Course	Bagnaia, Baldassarri, Marquez
Records	1'59.052 Jonas Folger 2016	1'58.439 Sam Lowes

Here are the tires chosen by the drivers:

When the red lights go out, Marcel Schrötter (Kalex, Dynavolt Intact GP) makes a good start but has to lose the first turn in front Xavi Virgo (Kalex, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) while a big fall puts him on the ground Nicholas Bulega (Kalex, SKY Racing Team VR46), Iker Lecuona (KTM, American Racing KTM) and Jorge Navarro (Speed ​​Up, +Ego Speed ​​Up).

Still in the first round, Marco Bezzecchi (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3) falls at turn number 6.

At the head of the race, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex, Flex-Box Pons HP 40) takes the lead in front Xavi Virgo, Marcel Schrötter, Brad Binder, Remy Gargner, Álex Márquez, Sam Lowes and Luca Marini while, further, Tetsuta nagashima (Kalex, Onebox TKKR SAG Team) made a mistake in the first corner.

Jake dixon (KTM, Angel Nieto team) was also trapped, this time in turn 4.

Little by little, a little train made up of Lorenzo Baldassarri, Xavier Virginie, Marcel Schrötter and Remy Gardner manages to break away by half a second from a duo composed ofAlex Marquez and Brad Binder.

As the rounds go by, Lorenzo Baldassarri grabs meter after meter and manages to build up a gap of half a second on Xavi Verge while behind, the peloton managed to get back in the wake of the leaders.

In the 7th round, Xavi Verge, who was getting a little stuck, was attacked by Marcel Schrötter, which benefits Remy Gardner and Alex Marquez to pass it as well.

The gap between the leader Lorenzo Baldassarri et Marcel Schrötter is then 8/10 but immediately begins to decrease…

Near the halfway mark, the Italian driver's advantage was only 2/10 while Tom Luthi (Kalex, Dynavolt Intact GP) made his effort and entered the top 5.

Lorenzo Baldassarri senses the danger and pushes forward, turning in 1'59.0. At this moment, alone Tom Luthi is faster on the track… the gap goes back to 8 tenths.

7 laps from the checkered flag, Tom Luthi is in contact with Remy gardner who occupies 3rd position behind Lorenzo Baldassarri isolated and Marcel Schrötter. On the next pass, the Swiss pilot attempted a first attack which the Australian repelled with vigor. The second is the correct one and Tom Luthi will now be able to tackle Marcel Schrötter, his teammate at Dynavolt Intact GP.

4 laps from the checkered flag, Tom Luthi takes advantage of the slipstream in the straight to gain the upper hand over his colleague in the box and now only has his line of sight Lorenzo Baldassarri, 8/10 ahead of him.

Lorenzo Baldassarri seems to have the race in hand but the gap is reduced to 1/2 second with 2 laps remaining…

At the start of the last lap, only 2/10 separated the two leading men. Tom Lüthi takes advantage of the straight line to get back into the Italian's saddle but he doesn't break, and despite a few small attempts on the part of the Swiss, Lorenzo Baldassarri crossed the finish line 2 hundredths of a second ahead Tom Lüthi , for the greatest pleasure of Valentino Rossi, his boss at the VR46 Riders Academy!

Kalex triumphs by imposing 10 machines in the Top 10, ahead of the Speed ​​Up of Fabio di Giannantonio and the KTM of Brad Binder !

Qatar Moto2 Grand Prix: classification

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com