Moto2: Fernandez takes Texan pole, Lowes 16th

The 15th round of the 2021 Moto2 World Championship takes place this weekend, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, for the Grand Prix of the Americas. Raul Fernandez had continued his strong form from Aragon and Misano, as he topped the combined practice in Texas. 

Q1 was topped by Marcos Ramirez, who joined his American Racing teammate Cameron Beaubier in Q2 at the team’s home race. Joining Ramirez in advancing were Celestino Vietti, Somkiat Chantra and Tony Arbolino.

Remy Gardner topped Q2 for the majority of the session, but lost out at the very end to a fantastic last lap from Raul Fernandez, who became the only Moto2 rider this weekend to dip under the 2’09 barrier. Fernandez was within a couple of tenths of Alex Rins’ 2016 lap record which, even with the extra torque of the Triumph motors compared to the Hondas, is extremely impressive given the relatively poor track conditions. 

Gardner was displaced by no one other than his teammate and title rival, though, and will start tomorrow’s race in second place. The Australian is still in control of this championship, despite the recent form from Fernandez, but the track conditions make tomorrow’s encounter especially perilous, so it will be interesting to see how the #87 approaches the race, into which he carries a 34-point lead.

Fabio di Giannantonio enjoys being in America, and he bled his good mood onto the track in qualifying, by setting the third fastest time of Q2 to take his first front row since he was second on the grid in Germany. 

Marco Bezzecchi heads up row two tomorrow, ahead of Cameron Beaubier who took his career best qualifying in fifth place. The #6 tends to perform better on Sundays than Saturdays, so he will no doubt have his sights set on a maiden Grand Prix podium finish in his home race tomorrow. 

Completing the second row will be Augusto Fernandez on his first visit to COTA; while Tony Arbolino will head up row three from Ai Ogura and Albert Arenas, as the 2020 Moto3 title  rivals line up alongside each other for the 2021 Moto2 Grand Prix of the Americas. 

Celestino Vietti completed the qualifying top 10, and will start from the front of row four tomorrow, from Marcos Ramirez and Xavi Vierge; while Jake Dixon will be joined by Aron Canet and Somkiat Chantra on row five. 

Sam Lowes crashed at the end of Q2 to confirm his worst qualifying of the season with 16th. The Briton will start from the front of row six, where he will be joined by Jorge Navarro, who also crashed, and Simone Corsi on the MV Agusta.

Marcel Schrotter was the fastest rider to miss out on Q2, and he will start 19th tomorrow, alongside Hector Garzo and Tetsuta Nagashima on the seventh row. Meanwhile, Stefano Manzi will head up row eight, ahead of Bo Bendsneyder and Barry Baltus; while Fermin Aldeguer qualified 25th, ahead of Joe Roberts and Hafizh Syahrin who will join him on row nine. Tom Luthi and Lorenzo Baldassarri were the slowest twoo riders in Q1, and will start 28th and 29th, respectively, while Nicolo Bulega will start last having not set a time.