Portimao Moto2: Fernandez scores maiden win, Lowes crashes

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