MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 / MARCH 8-10, 2019
LOSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / DOHA, QATAR
P72
mad. "I was down on speed.
I was in front of him when we
came onto the straight."
Less than two tenths behind,
second Flexbox-Pons rider Au-
gusto Fernandez came through
by half distance for a challenging
fifth, getting past Alex Marquez
(EG-VDS Kalex) to do so.
Marquez would lose another
place to Sam Lowes (Federal Oil
Gresini Kalex), the Briton gaining
speed at the end for sixth, with
Marquez less than two seconds
behind.
Baldassarri had gained the
lead on the second lap, and by
lap 12 had managed to get al-
most a second clear. But at this
and getting ahead briefly on the
last lap.
Luthi, the first rider to return
from MotoGP and achieve such
success, had got through what
turned into an equally fierce
scrap for the last podium posi-
tion.
His Exactweld teammate Mar-
cel Schrotter, who had started
from a first pole, had finally lost
the place to the transformed
son-of-a-champion Remy Gard-
ner (ONEXOX Kalex) on the final
lap. But on the run to the line he
got back ahead of the Australian
by inches.
Fourth was Gardner's career-
best finish, but he was spitting
Moto2
Hopes that the new Triumph
power would revitalize Moto2
came true in spades at Qatar.
With the win decided by 0.26
of a second and third by the
even smaller margin of 0.002
of a second, it was all the better
because of the way the top chal-
lenger for the win came through
from 12th on the first lap.
That was returning veteran
Thomas Luthi, at 32, the oldest
rider in the class, and he failed
to displace long-time-leader
Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox
HP40 Kalex) by the narrowest of
margins, after hunting him down
Lorenzo
Baldassarri held
off a charging
Luthi for the
first Moto2 win
of the year.
