Algarve Moto2: Gardner beats Fernandez to close in on title

The Australian dropped as low as third in the early stages of the race before making the most of his hard tyre pace advantage to pick off Marco Bezzecchi and Fernandez to claim the lead with 10 of the 23 laps contest remaining.

Gardner, the son of 1987 500cc motorcycle world champion Wayne, was unable to shake off his soft tyre shod teammate until the closing laps to claim a comfortable fifth win of the season.

Fernandez came home in second some 3.014s adrift, while Britain's Sam Lowes secured the final spot on the podium after significantly closing the gap to Fernandez in the final laps.

The victory extends Gardner's championship lead to 23 points over Fernandez heading into next weekend's title decider in Valencia.

Fernandez made no mistakes from pole and converted his grid slot into a lead as the field streamed into Turn 1 followed by rival Gardner.

Fabio di Giannantonio was the big loser from the start dropping from third to eighth on the opening lap, while Marco Bezzecchi stormed from seventh to third.

The opening lap was not without drama as Somkiat Chantra crashed out at Turn 4.

Leader Fernandez quickly found a strong rhythm to move six tenths clear of the chasing Gardner, who came under pressure from Bezzecchi. The Italian would take the second spot from the Australian on lap 3.

Behind, American Cameron Beaubier managed to pass Aron Canet for fourth but his time in the position was short-lived as he began to drop down the order.

Gardner, on the hard tyre, slowly began to haul Bezzecchi in over the following laps before eventually re-taking second on lap 9.

Lowes took over fourth followed by Canet, with di Giannantonio locked in a battle with Beaubier in the battle for sixth.

At the front, the soft tyre shod Fernandez soon saw his advantage evaporate as Gardner charged back up to the leader. The Aussie followed his teammate before diving underneath the Spaniard at Turn 1 at the halfway point.

Fernandez was unable to respond but was able to keep within half a second of his title rival despite a tyre grip disadvantage.

While the top two were locked in a battle for the win, third-placed Bezzecchi dropped into the clutches of Lowes and it didn't take long for the Brit to surge into the final podium spot.

Bezzecchi, now a sitting duck with his rubber, fell behind Beuabier and Canet falling to sixth with five laps remaining.

As the race moved into the final laps, Fernandez fell away from Gardner and had to keep an eye on the charging Lowes behind, but held onto second at the chequered flag.

Canet managed to snatch fourth from Beaubier after a great scrap, while Calestino Vietti was sixth. Bezzecchi dropped to eighth behind Jorge Navarro.

After starting third, di Giannantonio struggled and eventually finished in 11th position.

The race was not without incident as Albert Arenas, Ai Ogura, Jake Dixon and Xavi Vierge all suffered high-speed crashes.

The Moto2 season will conclude at Spain's Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia on 14 November.

Cla	Rider	Bike	Gap
1	Remy Gardner	Kalex
2	Raúl Fernández	Kalex	3.014
3	Sam Lowes	Kalex	3.899
4	Arón Canet	Boscoscuro B-21	7.616
5	Cameron Beaubier	Kalex	7.621
6	Celestino Vietti Ramus	Kalex	10.021
7	Jorge Navarro	Boscoscuro B-21	10.908
8	Marco Bezzecchi	Kalex	11.586
9	Augusto Fernandez	Kalex	13.121
10	Marcel Schrotter	Kalex	13.286
11	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Kalex	14.614
12	Hector Garzo	Kalex	25.538
13	Stefano Manzi	Kalex	26.511
14	Marcos Ramirez	Kalex	27.225
15	Bo Bendsneyder	Kalex	28.345
16	Fermín Aldeguer	Boscoscuro B-21	28.412
17	Simone Corsi	MV Agusta	32.282
18	Hafizh Syahrin	NTS	35.387
19	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	39.184
20	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	43.432
21	Nicolo Bulega	Kalex	43.491
22	Tony Arbolino	Kalex	43.803
23	Barry Baltus	NTS	45.847
24	Joe Roberts	Kalex	54.350
25	Piotr Biesiekirski	Kalex	1'08.619
	Lorenzo Baldassarri	MV Agusta
	Xavi Vierge	Kalex
	Jake Dixon	Kalex
	Ai Ogura	Kalex
	Albert Arenas	Boscoscuro B-21
	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex
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