Moto2: Fernandez dominates with pole and lap record in Portugal

The Moto2 World Championship enters its penultimate round this weekend, as it visits the Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal for the second time in 2021, for the Grand Prix of the Algarve. Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner continue their title fight this weekend, and they finished free practice at the top, with Fernandez just ahead of Gardner.

In Q1, Fabio Di Giannantonio distinguished himself as the fastest rider, topping the session ahead of Marcos Ramirez, Marcel Schrotter and Hafizh Syahrin, who all moved through to Q2. 

Raul Fernandez was on his way to dominating the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna two weeks ago when he crashed from the lead, and two weeks later he dominated Q2 to take pole position by almost a quarter of a second, and the lap record with it. The Spaniard has been evenly matched by his teammate and title rival, Remy Gardner, all weekend, but found himself a significant advantage in qualifying.

Gardner, meanwhile, had a more complicated qualifying. Until the his final two laps he was back on the provisional third row in eighth, but he made those last two laps count to go second at the death. They were important lap for Gardner, who can win the title tomorrow but, more importantly, could do without throwing away his 18-point lead.

Aron Canet crashed with just a few minutes left in Q2 while occupying a front row spot. The crash cost him, though, with Gardner’s improvements, and he dropped to fourth. Fabio Di Giannantonio, on the other hand, held onto his front row spot, which was quite impressive after going through Q1.

Alongside Canet on the second row tomorrow will be Augusto Fernandez and Cameron Beaubier, who might have displaced Di Giannantonio were it not for his continued struggles through the long right-handers that end the lap in Portimao. As it is, the #6 will start sixth, ahead of seventh-placed Marco Bezzecchi, who would have expected more after a positive weekend until Saturday afternoon. 

Joining Bezzecchi on the third row will be Sam Lowes an Ai Ogura; while Jorge Navarro completed the qualifying top 10, and will be joined by Xavi Vierge and Hector Garzo on the fourth row. 

Marcos Ramirez will head up row five tomorrow, ahead of Celestino Vietti – who like his teammate, Bezzecchi, will have been hoping for a better qualifying – and Marcel Schrotter; while Hafizh Syahrin will be 16th, ahead of Stefano Manzi in 17th and Albert Arenas in 18th on the sixth row.

Somkiat Chantra was on a lap that might have got him into the top four, but a crash for Jake Dixon brought out yellow flags which cost the Thai rider, who will start 19th. Dixon himself will be 20th on the grid, while Simone Corsi will round out row seven in 21st. 

Joe Roberts came into this weekend with a broken left collarbone, and a crash on the exit of turn 14 will not have helped his physical condition. If he is fit to race and chooses to do so, he will start from 22nd, ahead of Tony Arbolino and Tom Luthi who will join him on the eighth row. 

Tetsuta Nagashima will have a long lap penalty to serve tomorrow for cruising on the line during free practice two. Before that, he will start from 25th on the grid as he continues to replace the injured Lorenzo Dalla Porta, and alongside the #45 will be Barry Baltus and Nicolo Bulega on row nine. 

Row 10 will be headed up by Fermin Aldeguer, who will start alongside Bo Bendsneyder and Lorenzo Baldassarri, while wildcard rider Piotr Biesiekirski will be alone on row 11, starting from 31st place.