Moto3 riders in action in this file photo. Picture: MotoGP
DOHA : With last year’s World Champion Alex Marquez and runners-up Brad Binder graduating to the MotoGP class for the 2020 season, the stage is set for potential world title candidates like Luca Marini, Augusto Fernandez, Tom Lüthi and Lorenzo Baldassarri to step up and stake a claim to be the best in the Moto2 business.
The new season kicks off today at the imposing Losail International Circuit where the riders - young and old - will compete for the only night race on the 21-stop calendar.
The new season will see three World Champions in the field, including a reigning World Champion in the form of last year’s Moto3 title winner, Italtrans Racing’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta, www.motogp.com said in a report yesterday.
Joining the Italian is Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who claimed the lightweight title the year before, and 125cc World Champion in 2005 Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP), who will also be this year’s oldest rider on the Moto2 grid at 33 years 184 days old on race day.
But that’s not all. Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing) has also won the 2016 FIM CEV Junior Moto3 World Championship, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Nicolo Bulega and Edgar Pons have an impressive three FIM CEV European Moto2 titles between them, whilst Jesko Raffin has claimed the same crown.
Then, three riders have a Rookies Cup title to their name: Jorge Martin, Baldassarri (FlexBox HP40) and Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP). Plus, EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes is a former World Supersport Champion from back in 2013.
When it comes to race victories, the Moto2 grid has 14 riders sharing 67 wins, which is one more than we had in 2019.
Lüthi is the most successful with 17 and is quite a long way clear of his closest rival, Jorge Martin, with eight. Looking at the Losail International Circuit, in particular, Lüthi took victory in the 2016 Moto2 Grand Prix, Martin in the 2018 Moto3 Grand Prix and Baldassarri is looking to become the first intermediate class back-to-back race winner in the desert since Jorge Lorenzo in 2006 and 2007 after taking 2019’s opening round by just 0.026 of a second.
The MotoGP race may have been cancelled in Qatar but there’s still plenty of race action to look forward to this weekend
Of the rookies, both Dalla Porta and Aron Canet (Aspar Team) were on the podium at last year’s Moto3 season opener and Dalla Porta could become the first lightweight class World Champion to win on his debut in the intermediate class since Dani Pedrosa in 2004.
The first decade of the Moto2 World Championship has offered so many memorable moments and as we embark on the second chapter and decade in its history, there’s surely going to be many stand-out moments, starting this weekend at the QNB Qatar Grand Prix.
