Moto2: Lowes goes back-to-back in Aragon as Bezzecchi, Marini crash

Round 11 of the 2020 Moto2 World Championship took place in MotorLand Aragon for the Grand Prix of Aragon. Sam Lowes started from pole position, while championship leader Luca Marini started from the front of the third row in seventh.

It was Marco Bezzecchi from the middle of the front row who took the holeshot ahead of Jake Dixon. Dixon, though, ran wide on the exit of turn one, allowing Sam Lowes through and dropping back to third. Fabio Di Giannantonio then passed the #96 into turn four for third place. 

Lowes was the ext to fall victim to Di Giannantonio at turn 12, the Italian taking advantage of a mistake from Lowes on the exit of turn 10. Dixon also had a look at passing his compatriot at turn 15 but backed out. 

It was an unnecessary move from Dixon, and it cost him drive all the way down the back straight where he lost time to the three ahead of him and was under pressure from Luca Marini and Jorge Martin behind. Neither Martin nor Marini were able to come through, but Martin was able to find a way through on the championship leader.

There was a second opportunity for Martin to take Dixon, as he slipstreamed the #96 on the front straight and out-braked him into turn one, leaving the Brit no options for retaliation.

Back at the front, and the fighting between Lowes and Di Giannantonio – which carried on at turn one on the second lap as the #22 reclaimed the advantage from his former stablemate in Gresini – had allowed Bezzecchi to break away at the front. The #72’s advantage was climbing towards one second halfway round lap two.

One lap later and the first major moment of the race occurred as Luca Marini crashed out of sixth place, taking his second ‘zero’ in two races. This left the door wide open for the likes of Bezzecchi and Lowes out front to eat into his championship advantage, as well as Enea Bastianini who had started from row four but already climbed to sixth by lap four. 

On lap eight, Di Giannantonio came back again at Lowes, making a beautiful move into turn five. He duly dropped Lowes and caught Bezzecchi by the end of the lap, making his move at turn 14 two laps later. 

What followed was slightly suspect from Di Giannantonio. In 2017, the Italian was livid with Joan Mir after the Moto3 race in Aragon for the way the Spaniard weaved down the back straight on the final lap to defend his lead. Di Giannantonio was the victim of that in 2017 and yet he was the employer of those tactics in the 2020 Moto2 race at the same track. 

The #21 left enough space on the inside white line on the back straight for Bezzecchi to squeeze into, yet when the #72 made the dart to that side, Di Giannantonio cut it off. In IndyCar, the move would be called reactive – of course, it can’t be reactive in motorcycle racing since there are no mirrors. Di Giannantonio did not know which side Bezzecchi would go nor when he would make the move, and yet it is still possible to see the danger in his movements, which also included an aggressive swipe back to the outside of the track when Bezzecchi realised he would have no luck on the inside. 

In the end, it did not matter much for either Di Giannantonio or Bezzecchi, as the #21 crashed out at turn two about 30 seconds after he took the lead. Two laps from the flag, Bezzecchi suffered the same fate at the same turn, dropping from the lead and giving up the top spot in the championship.

That handed the lead to Sam Lowes, a lead he would not give up, as he took back-to-back wins for the first time in Moto2 and the championship lead with it.

Behind Lowes, Enea Bastianini had caught Martin a few laps after the demise of Di Giannantonio, and had been able to establish himself in second place even if the presence of Martin was constant. Finally, Bastianini held on for second ahead of Martin, the Italian taking his first podium since he won in Emilia Romagna, the Spaniard taking his first since he was second in Styria. 

For the championship, the results of the Grand Prix of Aragon have had serious ramifications, as Bastianini has now taken the lead by two points from Lowes, while Marini is just five points back in third and Bezzecchi is fourth, 25 adrift. With four rounds to go, it could hardly be closer. 

Bezzecchi’s misfortune handed Jake Dixon fourth place, his best finish in the World Championship, after a lonely ride with multiple seconds ahead of him, and multiple behind to fifth place where Remy Gardner took fifth place ahead of Marcos Ramires – career-best sixth – and Hector Garzo – career-best seventh place.

Joe Roberts finished eighth on the second Tennor American Racing Kalex, ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima and Simone Corsi who completed the top 10; while Augusto Fernandez was 11th, from Tom Luthi, Edgar Pons, Stefano Manzi and Marcel Schrotter who took the final point in 15th.

Despite multiple fractures in his feet and ankle after last weekend’s crash in Le Mans, Xavi Vierge was able to ride and finish in 16th, ahead of Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Nicolo Bulega, Hafizh Syahrin and Lorenzo Baldassarri who completed the top 20 after being caught up in an incident involving Jorge Navarro in the first turn. 

Bo Bendsneyder was 21st on the NTS, ahead of Andi Izdihar, Somkiat Chantra, Xavi Cardelus, Kasma Daniel, Piotr Biesiekirski and the aforementioned Navarro who got back to the pits after the first lap crash and was classified three laps down in 27th. 

Remarkably, the only retirements were the three Italians at the front: Marini, Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi.