Race report
Moto2 Misano II
Emilia Romagna Moto2: Lowes wins, Fernandez crashes out
Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes claimed victory in a dramatic Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as Raul Fernandez crashed out and title rival Remy Gardner was hit with a penalty.
Lewis Duncan
Edited: Oct 24, 2021, 11:20 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Ajo KTM rider Fernandez trailed teammate Gardner by nine points coming into Sunday’s Misano race, and was on course to take the championship lead when he crashed out of the lead on lap 15.
Poleman Sam Lowes took the lead of the race at the start from Aspar’s Aron Canet and Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro, while Fernandez was seventh and Gardner 12th.
Canet took the lead for the first time into the Quercia hairpin, while Navarro would demote the Marc VDS rider come the third tour.
Fernandez had worked his way to fourth by the second lap and on lap four moved into the podium places in third ahead of Navarro, as Lowes returned to the lead.
As Lowes stretched his lead to over seven tenths, Fernandez’s charge continued on Canet into Quercia to move into second and begin his assault on the lead.
A lap later the championship picture took a twist as Gardner collided with Honda Team Asia’s Somkiat Chantra into the Caro hairpin at Turn 14.
Gardner was eventually hit with a long-lap penalty by Race Direction on lap 15, while Fernandez capitalised on a mistake for Lowes on the previous tour to take the lead.
But just moments after Gardner was first notified of his penalty, Fernandez sensationally locked the front of his Ajo bike and suffered a fast crash into Quercia while leading.
Fernandez walked away unscathed, while Gardner lost no positions in seventh when he took his penalty.
At the front, Lowes ran wide on lap 18 at Quercia and allowed Canet into the lead, but carved past into Turn 2 a few laps later – the Briton having a big moment as he changed direction up the inside of the Aspar rider.
Lowes subsequently broke free of Canet to claim his first win of the season since April’s Doha GP.
Canet fell into the clutches of a late-charge from the sister Marc VDS Kalex of Augusto Fernandez, who had to serve a long lap penalty at the start of the race for blocking Canet in qualifying on Saturday.
Augusto Fernandez snatched second from Canet out of the final corner as the Aspar rider’s fuel-starved bike began to cut out to complete a Marc VDS 1-2 for the first time since 2017.
Canet held onto third from VR46 rider Celestino Vietti and Navarro, while Stefano Manzi got his Pons Kalex to the chequered flag in sixth.
Gardner came home seventh after a late crash for the sister VR46 bike of Marc Bezzecchi, with the Australian now 18 points clear of teammate Fernandez in the championship.
Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was eighth, with Honda Team Asia’s Ai Ogura and American Racing rider Marcos Ramirez rounded out the top 10.
Emilia Romagna Moto2 - Race results:
Cla # Rider Bike Gap 1 22 Sam Lowes
Kalex 2 37 Augusto Fernandez
Kalex 1.233 3 44 Arón Canet
Boscoscuro B-21 1.400 4 13 Celestino Vietti Ramus
Kalex 2.554 5 9 Jorge Navarro
Boscoscuro B-21 4.243 6 62 Stefano Manzi
Kalex 5.198 7 87 Remy Gardner
Kalex 14.261 8 21 Fabio Di Giannantonio
Kalex 15.868 9 79 Ai Ogura
Kalex 18.905 10 42 Marcos Ramirez
Kalex 19.069 11 75 Albert Arenas
Boscoscuro B-21 19.675 12 64 Bo Bendsneyder
Kalex 24.309 13 96 Jake Dixon
Kalex 26.777 14 12 Thomas Luthi
Kalex 34.699 15 23 Marcel Schrotter
Kalex 36.240 16 54 Fermín Aldeguer
Boscoscuro B-21 37.590 17 70 Barry Baltus
NTS 37.899 18 11 Nicolo Bulega
Kalex 37.966 19 24 Simone Corsi
MV Agusta 50.787 20 7 Lorenzo Baldassarri
MV Agusta 1'02.974 72 Marco Bezzecchi
Kalex 97 Xavi Vierge
Kalex 14 Tony Arbolino
Kalex 27 Mattia Casadei
Kalex 25 Raúl Fernández
Kalex 40 Hector Garzo
Kalex 10 Tommaso Marcon
NTS 6 Cameron Beaubier
Kalex 35 Somkiat Chantra
Kalex View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Austin Moto2: Fernandez boosts title hopes with win, Gardner crashes
Next article Algarve Moto2: Gardner beats Fernandez to close in on title
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Duncan
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
Latest news
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 2 min
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
4 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
4 h
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
4 h
Tristan McKee joins JR Motorsports in 2027 with future plans for full-time ride
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe