Swiss Thomas Luthi took the season-opening Moto2 victory today at the Qatar MotoGP round in a race full of controversy after race direction handed down jump start penalties to riders who may not have actually jumped the start and then decided that Franco Morbidelli, who clearly jumped the start but wasn’t initially penalised, deserved a penalty because he had, in fact, jumped the start and was given a 20-second penalty on the last lap.
Britain’s Sam Lowes, reigning champion Johann Zarco, title contender Alex Rins and Marcel Schrotter were all given ride-through penalties immediately for jumping the start when it looked like both Rins and Lowes hadn’t. Then Takaaki Nakagami and Peter Mulhauser were also adjudged to have moved before the lights a few laps later. Morbidelli and Sandro Cortese were then given their penalties right at the end of the race which meant Morbidelli was bumped down to seventh place.
Luthi was unaffected by any of it and trailed Morbidelli until the closing stages, made his move and took the chequered flag. Louis Salom, who qualified so far back he wouldn’t have even seen the lights, took second place with Simone Corsi, who had been fighting with Cortese, bagging the final podium spot.
The chaos meant that Britain’s Danny Kent was able to pick off places and the penalties mean he finished in sixth place behind Hafizh Syahrin and Dominique Aegerter with Morbidelli next along. Rins went into the pits at the same time as Lowes but came back eighth, just one place ahead of Lowes who broke the lap record on his way back to ninth despite a scary off-track moment.
Luca Marini completed the top ten with Miguel Oliveira in 11th and Zarco coming back to 12th place. Pole position man Jonas Folger crashed out of a one-second lead on lap three.
Crasher Alex Marquez believes he saw the red lights flicker off then on again, so race direction, who installed a new race start system this year where it is down to spotters to see if riders have gained an advantage, have a lot to think about this evening. The rule says that if a rider jumps, then stops and has not gained an advantage, which Lowes and Rins didn't, then they shouldn't be penalised.
