Moto2™: Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) disqualified to hand Bagnaia victory.

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Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) produced a quality ride to seal a second victory of the season as he held firm to beat Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, with Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) claiming third on his 100th Grand Prix start. However, huge drama then emerged post-race with the Frenchman being disqualified from the rankings, his Speed Up machine’s tyre pressure under the minimum required.

This meant Bagnaia was promoted to the victory, Baldassarri takes home second and Oliveira third.

It was Quartararo who got the initial launch from P2 to get past pole man Bagnaia on the run down to Turn 1, however, the Frenchman ran slightly wide to allow the latter to take the lead of the race. Quartararo though latched onto the back of Bagnaia as the two quickly put a 0.9 gap into third place Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40), but the Italian soon reeled the pair in before Quartararo took over at the front – a calculated move into Turn 11.

The pair then settled into their rhythm, with Baldassarri keeping tabs until the mid-stage. By lap 12, the leading duo had started to exchange fastest laps of the race as they started to gap the Pons HP40 rider, who in turn had managed to edge out a comfortable 2.8 second buffer to fourth place Xavi Vierge (Dyanvolt Intact GP). He, in turn, was joined by Oliveira as the battle for P4 raged on between Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors), Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40) – Oliveira grabbing P4 from Vierge on lap 15.

Meanwhile, back at the front, neither Quartararo or Bagnaia would budge from the mid 1:51s as the margin remained between two and three tenths – Baldassarri now a lonely third, nearly four seconds adrift.

Bagnaia’s first real warning shot came on lap 19 at Turn 8, threating to make a move up the inside but thought better of it as Quartararo closed the door. With two to go, the Frenchman wasn’t cracking under the relentless pressure from ‘Pecco’, the latter looking particularly strong through seven and eight. Bagnaia smelt blood on lap 21, closing up before crossing the line to head onto the last lap.

Bagnaia wasn’t close enough around his favoured turns seven and eight, and nor was he at nine or ten as Quartararo held firm. What about on the run down to the Turn 11 hairpin? Again, no way through for the Italian as he then conceded victory to Quartararo. The future MotoGP™ star producing his personal best lap of the race on the final lap to take a what would have been a phenomenal second win of the season – Bagnaia extending his title lead to a commanding 35 points.

Baldassarri was brilliant in third on his 100 Grand Prix start, he finished 5.3 seconds ahead of fourth place Oliveira, the latter now with a mountain to climb if he’s to take the title over Bagnaia. Marquez battled his way to a heroic P5 after suffering a huge crash in FP1, with Binder crossing the line in sixth. The South African beat Fernandez to the line by three tenths, a career-best P7 for the Spaniard. Vierge’s early race charge didn’t last as he crossed the line eighth, with Lecuona taking the chequered flag in P9 after his first career front row start.

Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) couldn’t reproduce his stunning Thailand ride, the Italian rounding out the top ten in Japan to beat Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) – P11 and P12 respectively. Home rider Tetsuta Nagashima (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) scored points for the third race in a row in P13, with Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) and Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) completing the point scoring places.

Simone Corse (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2), teammate Federico Fuligni and Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) crashed – riders ok, with Bo Bendsneyder (Tech 3 Racing) retiring.

So after Quartararo’s disqualification, it’s Bagnaia who takes the 25 points away from Japan as he increases his stranglehold on the Championship. It’s not all over for Oliveira as we now head to venues where he claimed victories at last season.

MOTUL GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN

Moto2 Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	42	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	154.2	41’04.294
2	20	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Pons HP40	Kalex	153.9	+6.227
3	16	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	153.5	+11.553
4	13	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	153.5	+12.083
5	11	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	153.5	+12.348
6	10	40	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Pons HP40	Kalex	153.5	+12.701
7	9	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	153.4	+13.652
8	8	27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	153.4	+13.811
9	7	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	153.3	+15.604
10	6	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	153.2	+17.556
11	5	36	Joan MIR	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	153.1	+19.221
12	4	45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	153.0	+19.811
13	3	77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	Kiefer Racing	KTM	153.0	+20.278
14	2	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	152.8	+23.091
15	1	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	152.7	+24.468
16		5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	152.7	+24.622
17		22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	152.6	+26.288
18		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	152.2	+33.887
19		4	Steven ODENDAAL	RSA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	152.1	+34.074
20		2	Jesko RAFFIN	SWI	SAG Team	Kalex	152.1	+34.303
21		66	Niki TUULI	FIN	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	151.9	+37.458
22		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	151.9	+37.921
23		57	Edgar PONS	SPA	MB Conveyors – Speed Up	Speed Up	151.6	+42.570
24		62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	151.4	+46.667
25		95	Jules DANILO	FRA	Nashi Argan SAG Team	Kalex	150.8	+56.500
26		32	Isaac VIÑALES	SPA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	150.6	+59.659
27		18	Xavi CARDELUS	AND	Marinelli Snipers Team	Kalex	150.2	+1’07.065
		20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	MB Conveyors – Speed Up	Speed Up		0 Lap
Not Classified
		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	151.2	1 Lap
		9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	152.8	9 Laps
		21	Federico FULIGNI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	149.4	13 Laps
		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	149.7	19 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Francesco BAGNAIA	Kalex	ITA	279
2	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	244
3	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	167
4	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	148
5	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	137
6	Fabio QUARTARARO	Speed Up	FRA	136
7	Joan MIR	Kalex	SPA	128
8	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	123
9	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	114
10	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	110
11	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	109
12	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	59
13	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	SPA	55
14	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	47
15	Sam LOWES	KTM	GBR	46
16	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	41
17	Dominique AEGERTER	KTM	SWI	29
18	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	AUS	28
19	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	23
20	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	19
21	Romano FENATI	Kalex	ITA	14
22	Hector BARBERA	Kalex	SPA	10
23	Stefano MANZI	Suter	ITA	8
24	Danny KENT	Speed Up	GBR	8
25	Isaac VIÑALES	Suter	SPA	7
26	Joe ROBERTS	NTS	USA	5
27	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Tech 3	NED	2
28	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	1
29	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA	1
30	Niki TUULI	Kalex	FIN	1
31	Jesko RAFFIN	Kalex	SWI	1
32	Edgar PONS	Speed Up	SPA
33	Thitipong WAROKORN	Kalex	THA
34	Eric GRANADO	Suter	BRA
35	Jules DANILO	Kalex	FRA
36	Hector GARZO	Tech 3	SPA
37	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER
38	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	ITA
39	Xavi CARDELUS	Kalex	AND
40	Alejandro MEDINA	Kalex	SPA
41	Sheridan MORAIS	Kalex	POR
42	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Honda	INA
43	Corentin PEROLARI	Transformiers	FRA
44	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	Kalex	MAL
45	Cedric TANGRE	Tech 3	FRA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

Moto2™: Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) disqualified to hand Bagnaia victory.

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2018_jap_moto2_race_1.video_list_3x

MOTUL GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

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