Moto2 Qatar FP1: Marco Bezzecchi strikes first

Marco Bezzecchi takes P1 in the first Moto2 FP1 session of the year as he eyes the title.

It’s tight at the top in Moto2 as 0.016 splits the two major title contenders in the class, with all eyes on Marco Bezzecchi and Sam Lowes this year the duo are aiming to put in some impressive performances to take the title this year overall. Marco Bezzecchi takes the top spot overall ahead of Sam Lowes who finished the 2020 season in P3 and P4 overall with Lowes in P3. Sam Lowes heads into the season confident and has said he knows where to improve and what he can do to take it to the next level and take the championship glory.

In P3 we see Fabio Di Giannantonio who has put in an impressive shift after moving from Speed Up to the Kalex chassis with the Gresini Racing team, the Italian showed some incredible form at the end of the 2020 season leading various races but unfortunately couldn’t stay on the bike and suffered many crashes out of leading positions in the races, he leads another rider who jumps onto a Kalex for the first time, Bo Bendsneyder took P4 overall and has previously only ridden the Mistral 610 and the NTS chassis in the intermediate class and has shown flashes of brilliance. He was given a Moto2 offer at the last minute to ride for the SAG team with a Kalex and has accepted and proven he can be fast.

In P5 we see yet another title contender in Remy Gardner, Remy was the race winner in the final round of the season at Portimao and showed phenomenal speed during testing, he will ride in the Red Bull KTM Ajo set up and looks to impress under Aki Ajo who breeds champions, he finished ahead of Jorge Navarro in P6 who aims to improve on his horrific crash record of 2020 where he DNFed in more than 50% of the races in 2020.

Jake Dixon has returned from injury in P7, still struggling with mobility but isn’t letting that slow him down one bit leading a duo of rookies including Moto3 Champion Albert Arenas in P8 and Raul Fernandez in P9. The pair have adapted to the class in record time and have shown lots of promise already leading Marcos Ramirez in P10 and Augusto Fernandez in P11.

Further down the order, we see rookie Ai Ogura in P12, Joe Roberts in P15 who is riding for the 2020 champions this year, 2020 CEV Moto2 champion Yari Montella in P17 and Cameron Beaubier in P27.

Full Results:

Featured image – Sky VR46 MotoGP