Moto2: Gardner wins in Germany as Fernandez crashes out

Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) went on a Sunday stroll to victory at the Sachsenring. The Australian was unchallenged at the front after pressuring his teammate Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) into a mistake that took him out of the race.

Aron Canet (Aspar Team Moto2) resisted a late charge from Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team V46) to bag runner-up while the Italian completed the podium in third.

Gardner expanded his championship advantage to 36 points over Fernandez who remains second despite the non-score in Germany but is under pressure from Bezzecchi 11 points adrift.

Fernandez kept the lead from pole at the lights ahead of his teammate Gardner and the Ajo duo immediately put a couple of bike lengths between themselves and their opponents – almost eight tenths ahead at the end of the opening lap. Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was their first chaser in third and gapped Bezzecchi behind him who had struggled on fresh tyres all weekend and had his hands full with Canet.

Gardner claimed the lead through T12 on the second lap as the pair continued to pull away with almost a second of an advantage per laps. However, pushing too hard to keep up with his teammate, Fernandez lost the front down the hill at T3 and crashed out on Lap 5. Gardner was left lonely at the top and only had himself to beat.

Canet had meanwhile made his way into second and broke away from a group of three behind him with Bezzecchi, Vierge and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) who have had strong pace all weekend put hampered his chances early on with a poor start.

While Canet cleared off, Di Giannantonio executed an inch-perfect manoeuvre through T12 to finally move past Vierge on Lap 12. The Italian went on to hunt down his compatriot Bezzecchi and was all over his rear end by Lap 17.

The pair ruffled each other’s feathers, allowing Vierge back into the mix and gradually inviting Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) and Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) as well. Ogura started to apply pressure on Vierge and claimed him on Lap 25 with a clinical move through T12.

Canet’s tyres seemed to wear off and Bezzecchi edged in ever closer on the Spaniard, the gap down to less than a second on the penultimate lap. Vierge’s race meanwhile ended prematurely when he agonisingly crashed out at T1 on the final lap.

Unfazed out front, Gardner cruised to victory and became the first Australian to win three consecutive races since Casey Stoner and the first Aussie to do so in the intermediate class. Canet resisted the pressure from Bezzecchi and brought second over the line, meaning the Italian had to settle for third.

Di Giannantonio came home in fourth, but behind him, Ogura went down at T8 on the final lap. Lowes inherited fifth ahead of Schrotter and Jorge Navarro (+EGO Speed Up). Albert Arenas (Aspar Team Moto2) secured his best intermediate class finish yet in eighth from the American Racing duo of Marcos Ramirez and Cameron Beaubier.