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Australia
Race report

Portimao Moto2: Fernandez scores maiden win, Lowes crashes

A late charge from Raul Fernandez earned the rookie a maiden Moto2 win at the Portuguese Grand Prix as championship leader Sam Lowes retired after a scary high-side.

Raul Fernandez, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Raul Fernandez, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

After Lowes’ early retirement, the race looked to be a fight between Joe Roberts, Aron Canet and Remy Gardner for the victory, but all three were overhauled by a charging Fernandez in the closing stages.

A stunning final few laps saw Fernandez score a comfortable win. Canet went onto claim second, while a robust move from Gardner on the final lap saw the Australian take third and the championship lead.  

It was Gardner that had the best getaway from the front row as pole-sitter Lowes was slow off the line.

Lowes dropped back to third on the run to Turn 1 before drama struck as the championship leader tried to avoid running into the back of Gardner and was subsequently launched into a high-side.

The Briton was flung from his Marc VDS Racing bike and landed heavily on his back before then being collected by his sliding Kalex. Luckily Lowes managed to walk away from the incident relatively unscathed.

Gardner emerged in the lead after the opening lap followed by Marco Bezzecchi, who leapt from fifth on the grid to second. Another rider that surged his way through the pack was Roberts as he occupied third from eighth on the grid, while Petronas Sprinta Racing’s Xavi Vierge sat fourth.

Bezzecchi was soon applying pressure on Gardner for the lead before taking the position on lap 3 as the battle for the lead intensified. The pair swapped positions but once Bezzecchi regained the spot he attempted to break away from the field.

Behind, Canet emerged as a contender for the race having risen from ninth to fifth in the opening laps. 

The race was then punctuated by two separate crashes on lap five. The Honda Team Asia pair of Ai Ogura and Somkiat Chantra took themselves out of the race while fighting for ninth and 10th spot. The latter initially made contact with American Cameron Beaubier which triggered a low side that wiped out the innocent Ogura.

Further round the lap Yari Montella and Stefano Manzi collided resulting in a big high-side for Montella. His bike then burst into flames before marshals extinguished the blaze. Both riders walked away from the incident.

At the front, Bezzecchi had opened up a 1.4s lead over Gardner with Roberts and Canet in pursuit.

Gardner’s victory hopes were dealt a blow when he ran wide at shortly before the halfway mark, which left Bezzecchi to lead Canet with Roberts and Raul Fernandez behind.

The lead changed shortly after as Bezzecchi tried to defend from Canet into Turn 1, which allowed Roberts to shoot into the lead at Turn 1.

Roberts held firm for a number of laps before succumbing to pressure from Canet as the pair looked to fight over for the probable victory, while Gardner looked to recover lost ground and challenge for a podium.

However, nobody was watching the progress of rookie Fernandez, who made a late charge in the closing laps, passing Gardner, Roberts and Canet in quick succession, taking the lead with four laps remaining. 

Once ahead he never looked back as he took the chequered flag with a comfortable 1.7s margin over Canet. 

Canet, Roberts and Gardner were involved in a thrilling scrap for the minor podium places. 

Gardner dived underneath Roberts for third and the pair touched on the final lap, which allowed Canet to surge to second as Garnder took third from Roberts.

Marc VDS Racing’s Augusto Fernandez managed to come home in fifth ahead of early race leader Bezzecchi in sixth. 

Gardner has now claimed the lead in the championship standings on 56 points with a four point advantage over race winner Fernandez, Lowes sits third.

Race results:

Cla Rider Bike Time
1 Spain Raúl Fernández
Kalex Moto2 39'47.377
2 Spain Arón Canet
Boscoscuro B-21 39'48.977
3 Australia Remy Gardner
Kalex Moto2 39'49.345
4 United States Joe Roberts
Kalex Moto2 39'49.774
5 Spain Augusto Fernandez
Kalex Moto2 39'52.999
6 Italy Marco Bezzecchi
Kalex Moto2 39'53.721
7 Spain Xavi Vierge
Kalex Moto2 39'54.737
8 Spain Hector Garzo
Kalex Moto2 39'59.917
9 United States Cameron Beaubier
Kalex Moto2 40'02.366
10 Germany Marcel Schrotter
Kalex Moto2 40'02.617
11 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio
Kalex Moto2 40'02.898
12 Italy Lorenzo Dalla Porta
Kalex Moto2 40'03.044
13 Spain Albert Arenas
Boscoscuro B-21 40'06.890
14 Italy Lorenzo Baldassarri
MV Agusta F2 40'10.524
15 Spain Marcos Ramirez
Kalex Moto2 40'10.871
16 Italy Tony Arbolino
Kalex Moto2 40'11.016
17 Switzerland Thomas Luthi
Kalex Moto2 40'14.847
18 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin
NTS NH7 40'44.376
19 Miquel Pons
MV Agusta F2 40'47.794
20 United Kingdom Fraser Rogers
NTS NH7 41'09.343
21 Thailand Somkiat Chantra
Kalex Moto2 41'12.537
22 Spain Jorge Navarro
Boscoscuro B-21 40'30.633
United Kingdom Jake Dixon
Kalex Moto2 24'23.974
Italy Celestino Vietti Ramus
Kalex Moto2 19'13.005
Italy Nicolo Bulega
Kalex Moto2 19'13.235
Netherlands Bo Bendsneyder
Kalex Moto2 12'18.520
Japan Ai Ogura
Kalex Moto2 6'59.636
Italy Yari Montella
Boscoscuro B-21 5'17.679
Italy Stefano Manzi
Kalex Moto2 5'18.196
United Kingdom Sam Lowes
Kalex Moto2

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