British Moto2: Gardner grabs victory as Fernandez falls
Remy Gardner finally shook race rival Marco Bezzecchi to win the Moto2 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, round twelve of the championship.
At the front of the race the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was under pressure from Marco Bezzecchi with the pair having swapped the lead several times over the course of the race.
As the Italian started to struggle with grip issues after choosing the softer option tyre, errors crept into his performance. That left the Australian able to push on and take advantage with a fastest race lap leading to him running over the line 0.481s ahead.
It is Gardner’s fourth win of the season and sees him extend his championship lead with a total of 209 points. His nearest rival in the title hunt remains Raul Fernandez, but with a day of mixed fortunes in the Ajo garage after the Spaniard’s tumble, just his second in a race this season, saw him collect no points. Fernandez had a stretcher called for his injuries.
Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46) had started from pole and suffered several bike issues before the race. Despite that he kept his nerve and gave Gardner a race all the way to the last lap for his sixth podium appearance in second.
Sam Lowes had lead briefly at the start of the race and was clearly pushing hard to keep in touch with the lead duo. The Elf Marc VDS rider was then reeled in by Jorge Navarro for his first podium appearance since Valencia 2019. He was also the highest placing non-Kalex rider for Lightech Speed Up on the Boscoscuro.
That left Lowes fourth at his home grand prix.
After pulling away from the now absent Raul Fernandez before his fall, Augusto Fernandez had set about catching Fabio Di Giannantonio. Once together on track the pair battled hard, with Fernandez leading in the closing stages.
The Gresini rider was not yet defeated and began a move in the final sectors which saw him claim a late fifth, pushing the second of the Marc VDS riders back to sixth.
Aron Canet made steady progress during the race to climb to seventh for Kipin Energy Aspar.
There was a two second gap before the battle for eighth reached the line with Xavi Vierge (Pertonas Sprinta Racing ) edging ahead of top rookie Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia).
Joe Roberts was next to see the chequered flag with a performance good enough to complete the top ten for Italtrans.
Tom Luthi recently announced his retirement and used his final British Grand Prix to repeat his usual performance of late and pick up places on race day, climbing to eleventh by the end for SAG Team.
Celestino Vietti on the second Sky bike held off a late charge from Marcel Schrotter for twelfth.
The German had taken a trip around the long loop for not complying with the orange and black flag in practice when water was leaking from his bike but still bounced back for 13th for Liqui Moly Intact GP.
The final points went to Nicolo Bulega (Gresini) in 14th and Bo Bendsneyder (SAG Team) in 15th.
Jake Dixon was absent as he stepped up to ride for Petronas in MotoGP. He was replaced in the Moto2 team by Adam Norrodin, who was one of two retirements, the other being Lorenzo Baldassarri.
Crashes ended the races of Hector Garzo, Stefano Manzi and Cameron Beaubier.
Following a fall earlier in the race weekend, Lorenzo Dalla Porta was withdrawn with a shoulder injury.
