Qatar Moto2: Baldassarri holds off Luthi to win opener

Pons rider Baldassarri started the race third, passed polesitter Marcel Schrotter off the line, made a move on Xavi Vierge on Lap 2 and then didn't give up the lead until the finish.

Luthi on the other hand lost positions from seventh on the grid, but he was able to gradually make up positions as the race progressed.

After passing Remy Gardner and Schrotter in quick succession, he had four laps to also pass Baldassarri, but he was unable to make a move.

He was all over Baldassarri on the final lap and had a good exit out of the last corner, but he fell just short, settling for second by 0.026s on his return to Moto2 following a single year in MotoGP.

Third place was decided by an even smaller margin, as Schrotter denied Gardner his maiden Moto2 podium by just two thousandths of a second.

Baldassarri's teammate Augusto Fernandez was an impressive fifth with Sam Lowes taking sixth.

Alex Marquez charged from seventh to fourth in the early stages but ran out of pace in the end as he fell back to seventh, followed by Luca Marini.

Italtrans rider Enea Bastianini was the top rookie in ninth with Vierge, struggling for pace even more than teammate Marquez, settling for 10th despite leading on Lap 1.

Brad Binder was also unable to keep his early position of fourth and in the end finished 12th.

The South African still ended as the top KTM as he and 15th-placed Jorge Martin were the only two bikes of the Austrian brand to finish inside the top 20.

Martin's former Moto3 rival Marco Bezzecchi crashed on the opening lap and was 26th at the finish line.

There was another accident on the opening lap involving Jorge Navarro, Nicolo Bulega and Iker Lecuona at Turn 1, while Tetsuta Nagashima, Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra also failed to finish.

Race results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	20
2	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	20	0.026
3	Marcel Schrotter	Kalex	20	2.123
4	Remy Gardner	Kalex	20	2.125
5	Augusto Fernandez	Kalex	20	2.305
6	Sam Lowes	Kalex	20	3.334
7	Alex Marquez	Kalex	20	5.018
8	Luca Marini	Kalex	20	7.336
9	Enea Bastianini	Kalex	20	12.949
10	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	20	13.865
11	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Speed Up	20	15.525
12	Brad Binder	KTM	20	16.591
13	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	20	18.667
14	Jesko Raffin	NTS	20	18.916
15	Jorge Martin	KTM	20	22.771
16	Bo Bendsneyder	NTS	20	22.822
17	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	20	23.978
18	Dominique Aegerter	MV	20	26.904
19	Simone Corsi	Kalex	20	27.030
20	Stefano Manzi	MV	20	40.274
21	Lukas Tulovic	KTM	20	43.003
22	Joe Roberts	KTM	20	44.212
23	Philipp Ottl	KTM	20	47.657
24	Dimas Ekky Pratama	Kalex	20	57.596
25	Xavi Cardelus	KTM	20	1'18.749
26	Marco Bezzecchi	KTM	20	1'35.817
	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	2	18 Laps
	Jake Dixon	KTM	2	18 Laps
	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex	1	19 Laps
	Jorge Navarro	Speed Up
	Nicolo Bulega	Kalex
	Iker Lecuona	KTM