After Qualifying was cancelled due to rain at the floodlit track Losail International Circuit in Qatar, where the race is run in the evening because of its location in the desert, Moto2 rider Franco Morbidelli of the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS team was on pole according to the combined Free Practice times.

Longer warm-up prior to the race due to lack of Qualifying

The 600cc class were given an longer warm-up practice prior to the race to make up for the lack of track time on Saturday as no sessions were ran at all due to the track conditions being considered dangerous. Morbidelli was joined on the front row of the grid by his teammate Alex Marquez, and Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten) who won the season opener at Qatar in 2016.

Morbidelli leads the season opener in Qatar

The weather, although forecast to be bad, remained suitable for an evening race and the riders lined up on the grid ready to get the 2017 season underway. The lights went out, and Morbidelli, who was yet to win a Moto2 race, led the pack into the first corner and they continued on cleanly making it round the first few opening corners.

Luthi had managed to make his way up to second in the pack bypassing Marquez in third. Behind them Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) was fourth ahead of Xavi Vierge (Tech 3 Racing), Danny Kent (Kiefer Racing), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing), Luca Marini (Forward Racing) and rookie Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46).

Incident involving three riders on the first lap

As they made their way round the first lap, an incident occurred at turn 10 of the race. Remy Gardner (Tech 3 Racing), Hafitzh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia) and Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing) were all involved in the incident. Gardner was out of the race straight away, but the other two were able to continue on. Syahrin eventually called it a day with 12 laps to go.

As things are so evenly matched in the Moto2 class, as each rider has the same 600cc Honda engine, it meant that a lot of the action was going to occur on the start-finish straight as a rag race took place every lap, and then a test of bravery and skill as the one who braked latest would succeed heading into turn one in the lead.

Turn one the overtaking hotspot

As the riders came round to begin turn two, this I what happened as Luthi bypassed Morbidelli and led the race for the first time. Further down the field, Bagnaia and rookie rider Fabio Quartararo (Pons HP40) were also able to pass Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward Racing Team). Baldassarri lost another position on the next lap to Axel Pons (RW Racing GP). Oliveira was also able to pass Kent to take sixth.

Towards the end of the third lap Morbidelli was able to work his way past Luthi to regain the lead. This is when the Italian began to find his rhythm when he settled down, and he began to pull away and extend his lead that would enable to go on and comfortable win the race.

On the fourth lap, Oliveira set his fastest lap of te race so far and whilst doing so was able to overtake Vierge heading into turn one. Morbidelli soon reclaimed the title on lap five of the 20 to be run by the Moto2 class.

Wildcard Al Sulaiti crashes out of the race

On lap six of the race, wildcard rider Saeed Al Sulaiti (QMMF Racing) crashed out of the race at turn eight. It was race over as, as trackside officials recovered his bike and wheeled it away, he was seen supporting his wrist with his head down as he walked to the safety area beside the track.

On lap seven, Marquez made his way past Aegerter to claim eighth position; Pons later made his way past Bagnaia and Vierge made his way past Kent; all the changes came when the riders took on turn one. Meanwhile closer to the front, Oliveira was chasing Nakagami which was in turn causing the Japanese rider to push more. Soon enough, it meant that Nakagami was able to catch and overtake Marquez to take third..

Further down the field, Quartararo was able to overtake Kent to take seventh, In the process however, Kent lost two places rather than the one as he lost momentum and was passed again.

Navarro crashes out of his Moto2 race debut

Unfortunately for Jorge Navarro on his Moto2 race debut with Federal Oil Gresini Moto2, where he is replacing British rider Sam Lowes who progressed to the MotoGP class, he came off on lap nine at turn seven of the race. The rider was unhurt but it was race over due to the damage to the bike.

On lap 10 of the race, with 11 laps to go, Oliveira made an attempt to overtake Marquez at turn one of the race track; the overtaking hotspot. Further around the lap, he was able to successfully overtake him at turn nine. Marquez had experienced a ‘moment’ which lifted him up out of his seat and the rear of the bike came up off the ground; fortunately the loss of position was the only consequence.

Kent travelling backwards down the rankings

Lap 11 proved to be an unfortunate one for Kent as he lost two more places in the race, first to Pons and then to Baldassarri. Ahead of them, there was a battle for sixth position commencing between Quartarar, Marini, Vierge, and the two who had passed him. Kent soon lost another place to Bagnaia and then Aegerter as Marini managed to take the lead of the group; Bagnaia soon found himself under pressure from Aegerter.

Laps passed and throughout the race there were battles breaking out for fourth, 6th and for 14th. In the closing laps, Luthi spun the rear end of his bike and wobbled as a result losing momentum slightly, Quartararo and Marini broke away slightly from the group battling for sixth leaving Vierge to lead the battle for eighth. Marini eventually passed Quartararo heading into turn 10 of lap 18 where he remained. Vierge soon lost eighth place to Baldassarri.

Last lap saw one last attempt for Oliveira to steal third

On the final lap of the race, as Morbidelli led and Luthi had appeared to come to terms with second place during the season opener, Oliveira made one last attempt to make a move on Nakagami in order to secure third, he couldn’t do it and did not make it onto the podium for the season opener.

Morbidelli wins his first ever Moto2 race at the season opener in Qatar

Morbidelli did it, he won his first ever Moto2 race and got the perfect start to the 2017 season opener of which he is one of the title favourites. He won 254 points finishing first at the Qatar GP. He was joined on the podium by Luthi in second and Nakagami in third.

Oliveira had to settle for fourth but it was a fantastic result considering he has just returned to his former team who have decided to expand to the Moto2 class for the first time this season. Marini finished sixth ahead of Quartararo who was the highest placed rookie, and Baldassarri in eighth. Vierge was ninth overall and Pons completed the top 10.

Aegerter was 1th ahead of Bagnaia who finished the race in 2th. Behind him, Kent, Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) and Xavier Simeon (Tasca Scuderia Moto2) collected the final points available from the first round as they completed the top 15.

Schrotter just misses out on the points

Just outside the points was Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) in 16th ahead of Simone Corsi (Speed Up Racing) as the highest placed Speed Up rider. Returning to the Moto2 class from the MotoGP class, Yonny Hernandez was 18th with the AGR Team ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima (Teluru SAG Team) and injured 2016 Moto3 champion Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who completed the top 20.

Isaac Vinales (BE-A-VIP SAG Team) was 21st ahead of Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Julian Simon (Garage Plus Interwetten) and Pasini who finished the race in 24th after his earlier spill. Ricard Cardus (Speed Up Racing) was 25th, followed by Edgar Pons (Pons HP40), rookie Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team), rookie Khairul Idham Pawi (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and rookie Stefano Manzi (Sky Racing Team VR46) who completed the list of finishers in 29th.