Moto2: Bezzecchi triumphs as Gardner, Fernandez falter

The second half of the 2021 Moto2 World Championship got underway in Styria at the Red Bull Ring. Remy Gardner started from pole position on a drying track. But the tyre choice was clear: slicks were the only option.

At the start, it was Gardner who made the best initial launch off the line, but it was Marco Bezzecchi who came from third to lead into turn one. An attempted pass from Gardner saw him run wide at turn three, and that dropped him back to third. 

Bezzecchi led until lap seven, when he made a mistake at turn one, dropping to third and allowing Canet into the lead. By this point, the top three had escaped somewhat from fourth-placed Raul Fernandez, who was about to come under pressure from Ai Ogura after the Japanese rider had dealt with the two Marc VDS bikes of Sam Lowes and Augusto Fernandez.

Gardner claimed the lead for himself at turn nine on the seventh lap, and started to escape with it. He built his advantage to almost one second, as Ogura started to pressure Bezzecchi, having already dealt with Raul Fernandez, while the Italian in turn began to close back in on Canet. 

Bezzecchi needed to make his move on Canet before he was passed by Ogura, and he did so on lap 15 at the first corner. Ogura had more trouble dealing with the #44, which allowed Bezzecchi to escape slightly, and begin closing back in on the leader, Gardner.

By lap 19 Bezzecchi had caught Gardner, and he made his move at turn one. A mistake at turn three from the Italian allowed the Australian to reclaim the advantage, but Bezzecchi came back through at turn four, to which Gardner was unable to find a reply. 

A lap later, Gardner out-braked himself at turn four and did well to avoid Bezzecchi. The #87 wound up in the gravel and dropped to fifth. With his teammate and main championship rival, Raul Fernandez, down in sixth, it was a major mistake that let an opportunity to take a significant amount of points out of Fernandez slip away – as well as his chances of victory. 

Bezzecchi was not completely out of danger with Gardner’s mistake, though, as now Ogura was closing in. However, the #79 received a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits, which dropped him back behind Gardner to fifth. Additionally, Ogura drifted outside of the white lines of the long lap penalty loop, which saw him receive a three-second time penalty post-race. 

There was some more pressure put on Bezzecchi, this time from Canet, who was strong with three laps to go, but the #72 was able to respond well, and was able to take his first victory of the season, and somewhat re-enter the championship battle, where he is now 42 points adrift of Gardner. 

Canet was unfortunate to miss out on a first Moto2 win, but with the next best Boscoscuro chassis being his Aspar teammate Albert Arenas down in 15th, the #44 again showed his class on what is clearly inferior machinery compared to the more popular Kalex. Augusto Fernandez completed the podium after a solid, if quiet, ride, where he was well-positioned to take advantage of the mistakes of Ogura and Gardner. 

Fourth place went to Gardner in the end, as he just held on from Ogura who set the fastest lap on the final lap. The Australian takes a 35-point lead into the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend after Raul Fernandez was demoted to seventh place by Celestino Vietti on the final lap. Vietti himself had a tremendous ride, often being the fastest rider on track as he came from 19th on the grid to finish sixth, his best result in the intermediate class, while Ogura’s three-second penalty did not cost him fifth place. 

Behind Raul Fernandez was Somkiat Chantra, who took his best finish of the season in eighth, ahead of Xavi Vierge in ninth and Marcel Schrotter who completed the top 10. 

Jake Dixon was 11th, ahead of Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Sam Lowes and the aforementioned Albert Arenas who took the final point in 15th. 

Tom Luthi missed out on points in 16th, ahead of Tony Arbolino, Stefano Manzi, Marcos Ramirez and Jorge Navarro who completed the top 20. Lorenzo Baldassarri was 21st, ahead of Nicolo Bulega, Bo Bendsneyder, Yari Montella and Simone Corsi who was last of the classified finishers, one lap down in 25th after a crash early on.Barry Baltus was another early crasher, although unlike Corsi he was unable to remount. Joe Roberts did get back on his Italtrans Kalex, but retired on lap eight, the same lap Hafizh Syahrin crashed out. Hector Garzo crashed with eight laps to go, and Cameron Beaubier dropped out two laps later.