Marc Marquez spent the whole nightmarish pre-season recovering from his eye injury, taking part only in the final test at Jerez, but the CatalunyaCaixa Repsol rider and Andrea ‘Crazy Joe’ Iannone offered some of the wildest racing in this first Moto2 race of the season in Qatar.
It was a five rider battle royal under the floodlights of the Losail circuit with the lead exchanging hands dozens of times in the 20 lap race, with Marquez getting the best drive out of the final corner of the final lap to take the victory over Iannone.
Pole sitter Thomas Luthi got the holeshot with a compact group following him close by, but at the end of the first lap on the straight Luthi ran wide on his braking point letting by Pol Espargaro, Marquez and Iannone.
The three would swap the lead several times accompanied by some rough fairing bashing, until both Marquez and Iannone made mistakes on corner 1 running wide and setting them back to fourth and fifth and letting Espargaro, Rabat and Luthi through who again was in contact with the front runners and passed both the Pons riders on lap 14.
Both Marquez and Iannone, while swapping places between themselves disposed of Espargaro and Rabat and started chasing Luthi with Marquez close on his tail, pouncing at the beginning of last lap sending the Swiss rider wide and making him lose four precious spots.
Iannone managed to grab the lead on turn 14 only to have Marquez get a better drive out of the last corner and slipstreaming won the race by just 0.
061 seconds.
Pol Espargaro beat his team mate Esteve Rabat for the third spot on the podium while a shook-up Luthi managed to salvage fifth.
Scott Redding swept through the field to grab 6th and slipstreamed Mike de Meglio for the spot, while Simone Corsi finished 8th after riding as high in third and getting marginally involved with the front runners.
Bradley Smith took 9th while Mika Kallio closed out the top ten.
Moto2 Qatar Race results:01- Marc Marquez – Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol – Suter MMXII – 40’34.
22502- Andrea Iannone – Speed Master Team – Speed Up Moto2 – + 0.
06103- Pol Espargaro – Pons 40 HP Tuenti – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.
41204- Tito Rabat – Pons 40 HP Tuenti – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.
63905- Thomas Luthi – Interwetten Paddock – Suter MMXII – + 3.
98106- Scott Redding – Marc VDS Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – +6.
76807- Mike Di Meglio – Speed Master Team – Speed Up Moto2 – + 6.
79408- Simone Corsi – CAME Iodaracing Project – FTR Moto M212 – + 6.
98609- Bradley Smith – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 10.
82810- Mika Kallio – Marc VDS Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 11.
37911- Randy Krummenacher – GP Team Switzerland – KALEX Moto2 – + 12.
75012- Johann Zarco – JiR Moto2 – MotoBI – + 14.
12113- Toni Elias – MAPFRE Aspar Team – Suter MMXII – + 17.
63414- Takaaki Nakagami – Italtrans Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 17.
87515- Julian Simon – Blusens Avintia – FTR Moto M212 – + 17.
89416- Claudio Corti – Italtrans Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 19.
01417- Xavier Simeon – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 19.
11418- Dominique Aegerter – Technomag CIP – Suter MMXII – + 28.
80219- Yuki Takahashi – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter MMXII – + 36.
59820- Angel Rodriguez – Desguaces La Torre SAG – FTR Moto M212 – + 36.
73821- Ratthapark Wilairot – Thai Honda Gresini Moto2 – Moriwaki MD600 – + 37.
14722- Axel Pons – Pons 40 HP Tuenti – KALEX Moto2 – + 37.
44323- Nico Terol – MAPFRE Aspar Team – Suter MMXII – + 39.
52324- Ricky Cardus – Argiñano Racing Team – AJR Moto2 – + 45.
26025- Anthony West – QMMF Racing Team – Moriwaki MD600 – + 53.
78626- Gino Rea – Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 – Moriwaki MD600 – + 54.
00827- Marco Colandrea – SAG Team – FTR Moto M212 – + 1’19.
05428- Alexander Lundh – Cresto Guide MZ Racing – FTR Moto M212 – + 1’19.
07129- Elena Rosell – QMMF Racing Team – Moriwaki MD600 – + 1’35.
15030- Max Neukirchner – Kiefer Racing – KALEX Moto2 – 1 lap
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