Moto2: Stefano Manzi takes Maiden Pole Position and MV Agusta’s First Pole Since 1975
By Jack Hammersley
Stefano Manzi onboard the Forward Racing MV Agusta came out of nowhere to take his first pole position in his Grand Prix career.
The Italian had a strong showing in the 2019 Valencian Round and has proved fast again in 2020, also taking MV Agusta’s first pole position since the 1975 Finish Grand Prix. What result can he produce in tomorrow’s race?
Flexbox HP 40 Pons’s Hector Garzo takes his career best Moto 2 qualifying position and his first front-row start in Moto 2, qualifying in second place, starting from the middle of the front-row. The Spaniard from Valencia took the fastest lap in last weekends European Grand Prix round, can he take a home and inaugural podium finish?
Marco Bezzecchi will line up in the last spot on the front-row in third place. The Italian has had a great Saturday after having a fairly quiet Friday. Bezzecchi needs to win to ensure himself to fight for the champiosnhip next week in Portimao, and he’s given himself a great chance at that with his teammate Luca Marini in tenth on the grid, with Enea Bastianini in twelfth. Can the SKY VR46 rider close the championship lead by taking his third victory of the season?
Jorge Martin had to go through Q1 and made good use of it finishing the session in second place and got through to Q2, unlike his championship rival Remy Gardner who will have to start from 19th in tomorrows race. Jorge then used the time from Q1 to his advantage being able to qualify in the middle of the second row. Jorge took second place last weekend in Valencia, can the Red Bull AJO rider go one step further?
SKY VR46’s Luca Marini has qualified second best out of the four championship contenders, qualifying in tenth place on the grid. Luca had great late race pace last weekend and hampered his chances of the podium with a poor start. Can Luca get a good start and gain the positions in the early laps to give him his best chance of a podium finish since his victory in Catalunya in September?
Championship leader Enea Bastianini will start from 12th on the grid, three places better than last week. The Italtrans rider looked good on the bike, but was just not able to extract everything to get the best qualifying position possible. Crucially, Enea has outqualified the injured Sam Lowes who was suffering with his right wrist from a nasty crash which he suffered at the end of Free Practice Three this morning. This is Enea’s best chance to have a more comfortable gap than what he could have expected before the weekend. Will Enea be able to take full advantage of the situation in tomorrow’s race?
It’s been the worst day all season for Sam Lowes, suffering an injury to the right wrist at turn nine this morning and then was unable to have the comfort to go to the pace that he has, meaning the Brit will have to start from 18th position, which is his worst qualifying of the season since the Australian Grand Prix last year. It’s going to be a tough ask for the Marc VDS rider to close in on Enea Bastianini, but Sam won’t give up that easily and will try to fight for the crucial championship points.
Everything looks to be in favour of Marco Bezzecchi currently this weekend and for Enea Bastianini in the championship. Enea can’t afford to relax though as the two SKY VR46 riders are still close in the championship and are determined to take the championship fight to the last round. The penultimate round of the season will take place at 12:20 (GMT+1). Who will take charge of proceedings and who will be in control of the championship as they head to Portimao next week?
Featured Image: motogp.com