Moto2™ – Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) bounces back as Lowes crash blows title chase open.

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SKY Racing Team VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi bounced back in style after a double DNF at MotorLand Aragon by taking a second-career Moto2™ victory at the Gran Premio de Europa in a race filled with drama. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) took the podium places but all the headlines will be about Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team), who now leads the World Championship after capitalising on Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) crashing out of comfortable second place in the closing stages.

Petronas Sprinta Racing’s Xavi Vierge made the dream start from pole position but immediately had Joe Roberts attacking him at Turn 4. The Tennor American Racing man went wide on the exit though, with the Spaniard reclaiming top spot at Turn 5. It didn’t stay that way for long, however, with Roberts storming through moments later to hold the lead at the close of lap one. Then disaster struck with the front end of Roberts’ Kalex folding from beneath him at Turn 2. The Californian was unable to join another stateside Joe in celebrating this weekend.

It allowed Marco Bezzecchi to take the lead but the Italian was under severe pressure by Remy Gardner. Podium finisher last time out Fabio Di Giannantonio (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) and Hafizh Syahrin (Inde Aspar Team Moto2), fresh from signing a 2021 Moto2™ deal with RW Racing GP, both crashed out of contention before there was a heart-in-mouth moment for World Championship leader Sam Lowes, who very nearly joined them in the gravel trap after pulling off a vital save at Turn 4.

Enea Bastianini was taking no notice of the people saying the Circuit Ricardo Tormo is a difficult track to overtake on as the title challenger battled his way through from 15th on the grid up to sixth with only five laps having been completed. Ten laps ticked by before Lowes decided to pounce on Gardner for second place, diving through ahead of the Australian. But it didn’t last long with the wild Aussie finding an immediate reply. The World Championship leader flexed his muscles only a few seconds later though, making certain he stayed ahead of Gardner in the fight for second.

Seeing Lowes stretching out his title lead by jumping up a place, Bastianini knew he couldn’t hang about much longer and put in a textbook move on Vierge to take fifth place with ten laps now left. There was a change in the fight for third too when Martin managed to squeeze through on Gardner, demoting the Australian outside of the podium places with time starting to tick away.

Then yet another seismic shift in the Moto2™ World Championship shook Valencia as the, up to this point, immaculate Lowes made his first mistake in some time; and it was a costly one too. The Briton crashed out at Turn 6 and his title lead went up in smoke as Bastianini swooped through into now fourth and consequently the lead of the World Championship.

The Italian’s choice of a soft tyre was starting to cause him some issues though, as the FlexBox HP40 duo of Lorenzo Baldassarri and Hector Garzo began to put him under all sorts of pressure. Baldassarri got in front of his compatriot in the closing stages before with what will no doubt prove to be two vital points on the line Bastianini got back in front.

At the front though it was all about Bezzecchi who was totally unflustered at the front once Roberts had departed the scene. Martin made it two podiums in three races as he backed up his third place finish in the Aragon Grand Prix. Gardner, meanwhile, collected his third podium finish of the year and made it a fifth top five finish in six races; the type of consistency that sees him further consolidate sixth in the standings.

Bastianini was able to hold off Baldassarri for what could be a pivotal fourth place finish. It means the 22-year-old from Rimini now sits six points clear of Lowes in the World Championship with only two rounds left of 2020. The Italian will no doubt have to fight off Luca Marini to be crowned intermediate class king in Portimao after the SKY Racing Team VR46 man proved he is far from out of the title chase with a last lap move on Garzo handing him sixth place and moving him to within 19 points of the top of the Championship.

Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Nicolo Bulega clinched eighth across the line after getting the better of poleman Vierge, who eventually drifted back to ninth, before HDR Heidrun Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro rounded out the top ten.

Top 10:
1. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46)
2. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 1.941
3. Remy Gardner (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) + 3.553
4. Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) + 4.494
5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) + 4.648
6. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 5.142
7. Hector Garzo (Flexbox HP 40) + 5.142
8. Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) + 8.104
9. Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 8.746
10. Jorge Navarro (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) + 11.930.

GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA

Moto2 Race Classification 2020.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	149.7	40’06.441
2	20	88	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	149.6	+1.941
3	16	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Onexox TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	149.5	+3.553
4	13	33	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	149.5	+4.494
5	11	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex	149.4	+4.648
6	10	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	149.4	+5.142
7	9	40	Hector GARZO	SPA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex	149.4	+5.224
8	8	11	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	149.2	+8.104
9	7	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	149.2	+8.746
10	6	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	HDR Heidrun Speed Up	Speed Up	149.0	+11.930
11	5	44	Aron CANET	SPA	Inde Aspar Team Moto2	Speed Up	149.0	+12.451
12	4	45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	148.9	+13.209
13	3	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	148.9	+13.585
14	2	64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	148.8	+15.528
15	1	62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	148.5	+19.284
16		42	Marcos RAMIREZ	SPA	Tennor American Racing	Kalex	148.5	+20.085
17		57	Edgar PONS	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	148.4	+21.512
18		27	Andi Farid IZDIHAR	INA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	148.3	+22.965
19		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	148.2	+24.769
20		19	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	147.6	+34.173
21		99	Kasma DANIEL	MAL	Onexox TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	147.0	+44.355
22		74	Piotr BIESIEKIRSKI	POL	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	146.1	+59.450
Not Classified
		22	Sam LOWES	GBR	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	136.9	7 Laps
		35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	147.1	16 Laps
		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	146.0	20 Laps
		21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	HDR Heidrun Speed Up	Speed Up	142.7	23 Laps
		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	Tennor American Racing	Kalex	140.7	24 Laps
		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Inde Aspar Team Moto2	Speed Up	135.6	24 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2020

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Enea BASTIANINI	Kalex	ITA	184
2	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	178
3	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	165
4	Marco BEZZECCHI	Kalex	ITA	155
5	Jorge MARTIN	Kalex	SPA	125
6	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	101
7	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	85
8	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	USA	80
9	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	72
10	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	70
11	Aron CANET	Speed Up	SPA	66
12	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Speed Up	ITA	65
13	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	64
14	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	62
15	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	58
16	Jorge NAVARRO	Speed Up	SPA	58
17	Jake DIXON	Kalex	GBR	44
18	Hector GARZO	Kalex	SPA	43
19	Marcos RAMIREZ	Kalex	SPA	32
20	Nicolò BULEGA	Kalex	ITA	25
21	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Speed Up	MAL	21
22	Stefano MANZI	MV Agusta	ITA	21
23	Simone CORSI	MV Agusta	ITA	15
24	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	10
25	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NTS	NED	7
26	Edgar PONS	Kalex	SPA	5
27	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	Kalex	ITA	5
28	Dominique AEGERTER	NTS	SWI	4
29	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA
30	Andi Farid IZDIHAR	Kalex	INA
31	Kasma DANIEL	Kalex	MAL
32	Piotr BIESIEKIRSKI	NTS	POL
33	Jesko RAFFIN	NTS	SWI
34	Xavi CARDELUS	Speed Up	AND
35	Alejandro MEDINA	Speed Up	SPA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

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