Moto2: Fernandez holds off late charging Gardner for second straight win

Raul Fernandez started on pole position for round 14 of the 2021 Moto2 World Championship. This weekend, the World Championship is in Misano at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the Grand Prix of San Marino and of the Rimini Riviera. 

Raul Fernandez made the holeshot, ahead of Sam Lowes. His lead did not last long, however, as Lowes hit the front at turn 10, and led the first lap.

Early on, the front group was six or seven-strong, but it was not long before those at the tail end began to struggle with the pace. Eventually, just four remained, and by this point Lowes had been displaced at the front by Aron Canet. 

Soon after losing out to the Aspar rider, Lowes lost out to #25 Fernandez, who took the lead six laps later on lap 15. 

Two laps on from his teammate hitting the front and Gardner was through on Lowes for third place. Once in fourth, Lowes struggled to maintain the race, and slowly it became clear that the battle for the win would be between Fernandez, Canet and Gardner. 

Fernandez led throughout the third quarter of the race, but despite a strong pace he was unable to escape. Canet and Gardner were largely able to stay with the #25, who put in continuous fastest laps between laps 18 and 21, but finally on lap 22 the Aragon winner began to stretch away. 

Sensing the strength of his championship rival, Gardner acted, passing Canet at turn two on lap 24, the same move he had put on Lowes earlier to take third place. By the end of the penultimate lap, Gardner had his deficit down from around one second to seven tenths, and by the first split of the final lap the gap was under half a second. 

Gardner was not close enough to attack into turn eight, nor turns nine and 10, despite an error from Fernandez on the exit of turn eight. Gardner new his best chance would be turn 14, the hairpin at the end of the slowing right-handers in sector three. In his desire to get the better of his teammate, Gardner spun up the rear tyre on the exit of the super-fast turn 11, and dropped from the rear tyre of Fernandez and back into the clutches of Canet. 

Just as Fernandez held on for the win, though, Gardner fended off Canet for second. For both Red Bull KTM Ajo riders, it was an important result. 

Towards the end of the Aragon race, Fernandez’ injured little finger on the right hand began to give up on him, and it seemed to happen again this time in Misano. His pace dropped dramatically and Gardner arrived on his back wheel in almost no time. The difference in Misano compared to Aragon is that one week ago, Fernandez was out on his own, whereas in Misano this weekend he was in a race-long fight with multiple riders. Perhaps Fernandez got lucky with Gardner’s mistake, but at the same time it is possible to argue that he made his own luck by getting to the front and making a small margin back to second place. Gardner was only ever going to get one chance to pass, and he cost himself that with the mistake at turn 11. 

Second place for Gardner matches his result of one week ago, meaning he takes 40 points from the last two races. That means, for all of Fernandez’ impressive speed in Aragon and Misano, he has only taken 10 points out of Gardner’s championship lead. That lead now stands at 34 points with four races to go. 

Aron Canet had his best race of the year, and was beaten only by the dominant KTM Ajo duo. There is no shame in that. It would seem that Canet’s maiden Moto2 win is not too far away, but it is difficult to see how the Boscoscuro chassis will work in the remaining races: Austin has been absent since April 2019; Misano should be colder than this weekend by October; Portimao was not so good for Canet in April earlier this year; and the last non-Kalex to win in Valencia was Tom Luthi on a Suter in 2014, when Tito Rabat ran out of fuel doing a wheelie on the run to the line. That said, the Boscoscuro has definitely reacted well to the recent introduction of the new soft tyre by Dunlop, so it is definitely possible that Canet can stand on the top step before the end of the season. 

Sam Lowes consolidated fourth place after falling back from the leaders, finishing well clear of Marco Bezzecchi in fifth. Augusto Fernandez looked like a victory contender before the race, but could only manage sixth, spending most of the mid-part of the race under pressure from Ai Ogura who eventually finished seventh. 

Xavi Vierge started the race well, but dropped back to eighth, finishing ahead of Fabio di Giannantonio and Celestino Vietti, who completed the top 10 after qualifying 17th. 

Tom Luthi would have been hoping for rain after being strong in the wet on Friday, but in the dry his pace was not as good, and he finished 11th. Marcel Schrotter was 12th after a crash in warm up, while Jorge Navarro got a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding and finished 13th. Marcos Ramirez and Tony Arbolino completed the points finishers. 

Stefano Manzi missed the points in 16th. He is in the window for the second VR46 seat next year with Marco Bezzecchi moving up to MotoGP. But with Andrea Migno and Niccolo Antonelli performing so well in Moto3 at the minute, the #62 will need to find better results if he is to take the seat over one of them.

Behind Manzi was Nicolo Bulega, from Hafizh Syahrin, Jake Dixon and Hector Garzo who completed the top 20. In 21st was Cameron Beaubier, to be joined by MotoAmerica Supersport champion Sean Dylan Kelly for 2022 in the American Racing Team. Behind the American was Albert Arenas who was unable to repeat his strong form of Aragon this weekend in Misano. Joe Roberts and Lorenzo Baldassarri were 24th and 25th, respectively, while Bo Bendsneyder was 25th and last.