Lowes ‘happy’ to take first win since Qatar following soft tyre ‘gamble’
Sam Lowes has recorded his first Moto2 win since the early season double-header in Qatar, while Augusto Fernandez clinches P2 after enduring a long-lap penalty.
The two Elf Marc VDS riders finished within 1.2 seconds of each other despite being over ten places apart during the opening few laps.
Lowes retained an early lead from pole before Raul Fernandez came through - exactly as he did in race one at Misano last month.
However, a crash around mid-race distance for the Red Bull KTM rider allowed Lowes and Aron Canet to fight for the win, before Fernandez made a late charge.
The Spaniard managed to get past Canet with a couple of laps to go, but ran out of time to challenge Lowes who instead found pace late on. The 1-2 finish is the team’s first since 2017.
Speaking after a significant soft tyre gamble, a tyre he had not done more than ten laps on all year, Lowes said: "I’m really happy with this result after some races when I had good potential but didn’t get it on the Sunday.
"It’s really important to finish this year strong to carry momentum into next season. To get the win after starting from pole position was nice.
"We gambled a bit with the soft front and the last few laps were a bit on the limit, because I had never done more than ten laps on that tyre all season!
"It was like being in unknown territory. But the conditions this weekend were complicated for everybody. No one had the perfect package because no one did race distance on the soft rear tyre before today.
"It was the correct choice and in the first 15 laps it was the safer option. It gives me nice confidence I could control it at the end and bring it home. The team did a great job. They made the best out of a difficult weekend and took the little information that we had and made a good choice."
For Fernandez, it was a stunning performance on his way to a season best second place as the Spaniard was as low as 13th.
"It was really fun! I enjoyed that one but it was difficult. Since I found out I had a penalty I always believed it was possible to do something like that," added Fernandez.
"Of all the races for that to be possible it was this one, because I felt good all weekend in all kinds of conditions.
"I did the long-lap penalty at the beginning and I had the mentality that I was starting from 14th or 15th, like I did in Aragon.
"I just focussed on my riding and my pace and then started overtaking riders one-by-one. At the end I lost a bit of time with (Celestino) Vietti and spent three or four laps behind him, otherwise I could have maybe fought in the last laps at the front with Sam and Aron.
"Anyway, being on the podium after the penalty is amazing. I’m very, very happy!"
