2017 Qatar Moto2 Race Result: Dominant Display To Take Victory

Franco Morbidelli has taken a dominant victory in the Moto2 class at Qatar, the first win of his Grand Prix career.

The Italian took the lead from the start, converting pole position into first place going into the first corner. He had Tom Luthi in his wake, the Swiss rider a specialist around the Qatar circuit, while behind, Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami gave chase. Luthi grabbed the lead on the second lap, but he did not hold it for long.

Just over a lap later, Morbidelli took back the lead at Turn 12, and never looked back. Morbidelli quickly opened a gap, then built up a lead over a couple of seconds by simply outpacing everyone else on the track. Luthi's resistance was quickly broken.

The Swiss rider was left to deal with Morbidelli's Marc VDS teammate Alex Marquez. But Marquez' pace dropped rapidly after six laps, and he soon lost Luthi's tow. Nakagami was on a charge forward, and was bringing along Miguel Oliveira, the Portuguese rider making a strong debut on the KTM. Nakagami and Oliveira made short work of Marquez, and the Spaniard dropped off the back of the group.

Luthi, Nakagami and Oliveira were all very close, but never managed to quite get close enough to challenge one another. Oliveira gave it one last push on the final lap, but a minor wobble gave Nakagami just enough breathing room to hold on to second position. Luthi ended the race in second, ahead of Nakagami, while Oliveira took a very creditable fourth place finish on the KTM's first outing.

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