Qatar Moto2: Luthi grabs win amid jump-start mayhem

The getaway was a chaotic one, as all the riders from second to eighth on the grid inclusive - Sam Lowes, Alex Rins, Johann Zarco, Morbidelli, Sandro Cortese, Marcel Schrotter and Takaaki Nakagami - all jumped the start by varying degrees.

Marc VDS rider Morbidelli was among the worst offenders, but escaped the first round of punishments as Lowes, Rins, Zarco and Schrotter were all called into the pits for a ride-through penalty immediately, soon followed by Nakagami.

Poleman Jonas Folger started cleanly, but when the German crashed his Intact Kalex at Turn 4 on the third lap, it left a fast-starting Luthi and Morbidelli battling for victory.

The two swapped positions multiple times, although Morbidelli led for much of the second half before Luthi seized the advantage at the start of the final lap.

It wasn't until the very closing stages that the stewards finally acknowledged Morbidelli and Cortese had also jumped the start, both having 20 seconds added to their respective race times.

"I didn't know about the situation until parc ferme," commented a victorious Luthi. "But I still won the race with or without Morbidelli's penalty.

"I risked a lot though and I could have taken it easier if I knew about the penalty, so it wasn't that nice."

That demoted Morbidelli to seventh place at the flag, as Luis Salom (SAG Kalex) - third on the road - was promoted to second ahead of Simone Corsi's Speed Up.

Cortese had crossed the line in fifth, but dropped down to 15th once his penalty was applied.

This meant Hafiz Syahrin (Petronas Kalex) took an unlikely fourth place, ahead of Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Kalex) and Moto3 champion Danny Kent (Leopard Kalex) on his return to the intermediate class.

Behind Morbidelli, Rins recovered to finish eighth ahead of Lowes, with Forward Racing's Luca Marini completing the top 10. Reigning champion Zarco salvaged 12th place.

Pos.	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Thomas Luthi	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	40:14.293
2	Luis Salom	SAG Team	Kalex	+9.610
3	Simone Corsi	Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	+9.665
4	Hafizh Syahrin	Petronas Raceline Malaysia Team Honda	Kalex	+13.558
5	Dominique Aegerter	Technomag Racing Interwetten	Kalex	+16.064
6	Danny Kent	Leopard Racing	Kalex	+16.114
7	Franco Morbidelli	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	+20.047
8	Alex Rins	Paginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex	+20.170
9	Sam Lowes	Gresini Racing	Kalex	+22.019
10	Luca Marini	Forward Team	Kalex	+24.249
11	Miguel Oliveira	Leopard Racing	Kalex	+24.254
12	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	+24.570
13	Ratthapark Wilairot	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	Kalex	+25.664
14	Takaaki Nakagami	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	Kalex	+26.992
15	Sandro Cortese	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	+29.736
16	Mattia Pasini	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	+30.404
17	Marcel Schrötter	AGR Team	Kalex	+38.446
18	Jesko Raffin	Sports-Millions-EMWE-SAG	Kalex	+46.363
19	Isaac Viñales	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	+46.543
20	Robin Mulhauser	Technomag Racing Interwetten	Kalex	+1:18.323
21	Alessandro Tonucci	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	+1:25.002
22	Efren Vazquez	JPMoto Malaysia	Suter	+1:39.572
R	Axel Pons	AGR Team	Kalex
R	Xavi Vierge	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3
R	Xavier Simeon	QMMF Racing Team	Speed Up
R	Alex Marquez	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex
R	Jonas Folger	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex
R	Julian Simon	QMMF Racing Team	Speed Up
R	Edgar Pons	Paginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex