Qatar Moto2: Morbidelli claims dominant maiden win

With heavy rain causing the cancellation of Saturday's qualifying, Morbidelli started the race from pole due to having the best practice time from Thursday and Friday.

Although he was passed by class veteran Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten) during the opening lap, he reclaimed first place on the third lap.

The Italian quickly built a safe gap and consistently stretched his advantage, leading by almost four seconds at one point and eventually winning by 2.6s.

"Just great," said Morbidelli of his first Grand Prix win. "It's a very good sensation. After all this time, it's just amazing to get this victory in Moto2. I'm very happy."

While Luthi couldn't challenge Morbidelli, he still finished second comfortably.

Honda Team Asia's Takaaki Nakagami completed the podium, having passed Alex Marquez (Marc VDS) at around half-distance.

The Spaniard losing third was just the beginning of his troubles, however, as he was also passed by KTM Ajo's Miguel Oliveira.

Oliveira also put pressure on Nakagami for the final podium spot, but he ended up settling for fourth.

With the top five building a significant lead in the early stages, Marquez held on to fifth despite losing a lot of time of the riders ahead.

Luca Marini (Forward) won a duel against Fabio Quartararo (Pons) to take sixth, although the Frenchman was the top rookie in seventh.

Marini's teammate Lorenzo Baldassarri finished eighth, followed by Xavi Vierge (Tech 3) and Axel Pons (RW Racing).

Reigning Moto3 champion Brad Binder (KTM Ajo) was 20th, still suffering from an arm injury picked up in testing, as fellow class newcomer and former title rider Jorge Navarro (Gresini) crashed out of the race.

Race results

Cla	Driver	Bike	Gap
1	Franco Morbidelli	Kalex
2	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	2.681
3	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	3.304
4	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	3.584
5	Alex Marquez	Kalex	11.226
6	Luca Marini	Kalex	13.747
7	Fabio Quartararo	Kalex	13.988
8	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	17.465
9	Xavi Vierge	Tech 3	17.477
10	Axel Pons	Kalex	17.767
11	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	17.802
12	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	18.090
13	Danny Kent	Suter	19.323
14	Jesko Raffin	Kalex	22.798
15	Xavier Simeon	Kalex	24.009
16	Marcel Schrötter	Suter	24.077
17	Simone Corsi	Speed Up	28.193
18	Yonny Hernandez	Kalex	31.828
19	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	31.839
20	Brad Binder	KTM	34.046
21	Isaac Viñales	Kalex	40.227
22	Sandro Cortese	Suter	40.279
23	Julian Simon	Kalex	40.446
24	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	42.501
25	Ricard Cardus	Speed Up	43.000
26	Edgar Pons	Kalex	47.072
27	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	47.486
28	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	51.206
29	Stefano Manzi	Kalex	1'02.080
	Jorge Navarro	Kalex	12 laps
	Hafizh Syahrin	Kalex	12 laps
	Saeed Al Sulaiti	Speed Up	15 laps
	Remy Gardner	Tech 3