The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar - Promising Italian rider Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) last night improved on his Doha appearance from last year to bag the season’s first Moto2 win at Losail International Circuit (LIC).
Having finished second last year, Baldassarri clocked 39’56.109 on his Kalex bike to take the top spot at the Qatar podium finishing ahead of Swiss star Thomas Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) in the 20-lap race.
Luthi finished just 0.026 seconds slower at the finish following an intense battle for supremacy under lights.
Lujthi’s Dynavolt Intact GP stabelmate Marcel Schrotter of Germany (+2.123 seconds) finished in third spot for his season’s first podium.
It was Schrotter’s 159th start in his Grand Prix career.
Baldassarri, 22, started the race in third place but after passing pole winner Schrotter off the line at the start, he grabbed the lead on lap two and retained his spot until the end.
After the heart-stopping battle, Baldassarri admitted it was a tough grind.
“I had a lot of pressure at the end because the whole race was about a good rhythm,” Baldassarri said yesterday.
“Luthi was very strong and I felt that he was coming. At the end of turn 10, I heard the roar of the engine and knew I tried to get in. I tried to close all the holes, I had a problem with the rear end, but I managed to close well in the last corners.”
Luthi, who suffered a crash on Saturday, said yesterday: “I love being here on the podium, but I could have won, I lost too many positions at the beginning of the race.”
Schrotter said after the race: “The start was not so bad, but we had to control the thrust a little bit, I think I was at full throttle and
I was not making enough progress. After lap 8, I started having problems, I lost control of the train rear.”
Earlier yesterday, Japan’s Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) edged Italy’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) in a tight finish to clinch the first Moto3 Grand Prix win of the season.
The 18-year-old Japanese clocked a time of 38’08.887 in the 18-lap race around the 5.38km circuit.
Porta, 21, was just 0.053 seconds slower than the Japanese.
Pole winner Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) of Spain finished in third place after dominating for most part of the race. Nineteen year old Canet, riding a KTM bike, was +0.174 adrift of Toba.
Toba, who started third on the grid, was thrilled with his first win of the new season. He became the first Japanese winner in the lightweight class since Tomoyoshi Koyama took victory in the 125cc race at the 2007 Catalan Grand Prix.
Spain’s Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing, + 0.505) and Italian Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46, +0.584) completed the top five.
The Moto3 and Moto2 family now moves to Argentina for the Grand Prix on March 30.