Moto2: Gardner defeats Bezzecchi in Silverstone duel as Fernandez crashes out

Round 12 of the 2021 Moto2 World Championship, the British Grand Prix, took place in Silverstone. The clouds that had been present all day remained for the Moto2 race, but the rain stayed away. Marco Bezzecchi started from pole position, but technical problems before the start complicated matters for the Italian.

It was Bezzecchi who took the holeshot, but Sam Lowes soon dispossessed the Italian of the lead at Becketts on the first lap, and the Briton went on to lead the first lap.

Bezzecchi, though, came back at Brooklands on lap two, and Lowes lost out again, this time to Remy Gardner, on lap four. 

Bezzecchi and Gardner then set the tone for the race, with the pair of them exchanging positions multiple times before Gardner established himself at the front on lap 12. The fight continued, though, and with Lowes falling back in third, he fell victim to Jorge Navarro and out of the podium.

Navarro, though, was too far behind Bezzecchi and Gardner to make an impact with the little time left in the race, so it was between the Italian and Australian to decide the victor. 

Gardner was strong in front, but both he and Bezzecchi had their strong and weak points. In particular, Bezzecchi had good traction thanks to his decision to run the soft rear tyre, despite the temperature being below Dunlop’s recommendation for the soft option. This benefitted the Italian particularly on the exit of Chapel and down the Hangar Straight, and from the exit of the Loop, through Aintree and down the back straight to Brooklands. Gardner, though, was confident through the high-speed section at Abbey-Farm, and then into Village and the Loop. 

Dunlop’s worries about the endurance of the soft rear tyre seemed to be founded with three laps to go, when Bezzecchi ran wide in Abbey. The Italian lost critical ground, especially when fighting the near-perfect Gardner. The #72 was able to regain the lost ground, but another mistake on the final lap on the exit of Club cost the Italian a chance to make a late attack on the #87. 

It was victory, then, for Remy Gardner, who was faultless en route, and extended, handsomely, his championship lead, over both Bezzecchi, who finished second, and Raul Fernandez, who suffered a high-speed crash on the exit of Farm. Fernandez now has a 44-point deficit to Gardner, and Bezzecchi is eight points further back of Fernandez. 

Jorge Navarro and the Speed Up team’s first podium since Valencia 2019. The Spaniard has been re-energised this weekend by the arrival of a new soft tyre from Dunlop, so it will be interesting to see whether he can keep the form into Aragon, where he came close to victory in 2019. 

Sam Lowes missed the podium in fourth place, but it was a strong ride nonetheless from the #22 as he continues to regain his form. Completing the top five was Fabio DI Giannantonio, who came out on top in his battle with Augusto Fernandez who finished sixth. Aron Canet was for once not the stand out Boscoscuro rider, the #44 simply not on the same level as third-placed Navarro in Silverstone. 

Behind Canet, Xavi Vierge finished eighth, ahead of Ai Ogura and Joe Roberts who completed the top 10. 

Tom Luthi finished 11th, ahead of Celestino Vietti who made a good recovery after a difficult weekend. Marcel Schrotter was 13th after a long lap penalty for not respecting the black and orange flag in FP1 when a hose came loose on his bike, the German finishing ahead of Nicolo Bulega and Bo Bendsneyder who took the final point in 15th. 

Fermin Aldeguer missed the points, finishing 16th on his Silverstone debut. The 16-year-old Spanish rookie was ahead of Somkiat Chantra, Tony Arbolino, Albert Arenas and Marcos Ramirez who completed the top 20. 

Hafizh Syahrin was 21st having suffered physically all weekend, ahead of Simone Corsi and Barry Baltus, who was last of the 23 finishers. 

Lorenzo Baldassarri retired on lap four, before both Pons riders went down in separate incidents. Adam Norrodin was another crasher as he stepped in to replace Jake Dixon who was riding MotoGP this weekend. Cameron Beaubier and the aforementioned Raul Fernandez were the only other retirements.