Moto2™ – Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini) takes emotional debut win to honour Gresini.

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Federal Oil Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio put in a Moto2™ masterclass at the Red Bull Spanish Grand Prix to clinch a debut victory and honour the late Fausto Gresini in the best way possible. The Italian was untouchable from lights out to the chequered flag, eventually coming home two seconds clear of Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team).

Di Giannantonio took the holeshot from the middle of the front row of the grid, squeezing ahead of poleman Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) on the brakes into the opening corner. Bezzecchi held third place on the first lap but very nearly found himself in the Turn 6 gravel trap when he got it out of shape under braking. The Italian somehow missed Gardner’s rear wheel but ran well wide to allow both Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) through.

It didn’t take long for remarkable rookie Fernandez to move into the podium places too with a smooth move on the Mallorcan into Turn 1. He then quickly closed on to the rear wheel of teammate Gardner, before disaster struck behind for Augusto Fernandez as the Marc VDS man crashed out at Turn 6. He was joined there by Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) as the front of the Italian’s Kalex gave way in a very similar crash.

At the front, the Italian’s lead had moved out to 1.5 seconds as he laid down a pace that Jorge Lorenzo would’ve been proud of. Incredible consistency from Di Giannantonio meant nobody could get close to him. So attention switched to the fight for second and third, with Gardner having managed to get his nose in front of Raul Fernandez. Behind the pair of Ajo riders, Lowes was pushed back a further place to fifth as Bezzecchi came steamrolling through. The Brit got himself back in front of the Italian but, into Turn 1, the SKY VR46 man pulled off a carbon copy move to take fourth once more.

Raul Fernandez pulled off a brave overtake on teammate Gardner to retake second, all the while Di Giannantonio was streaking further clear; 3 seconds his lead with 15 laps of Jerez left. It went from bad to worse for polesitter Gardner as Bezzecchi pounced on the Australian’s apparent struggles, nudging him down a further place to fourth. Bezzecchi, meanwhile, was on a charge as he looked to make amends after his early error.

Further down the field there were a flurry of fast crashes as Moto3™ World Champion Albert Arenas (Inde Aspar Team), Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Simone Corse (MV Agusta Forward Racing) all hit the deck. The Thai and the Italian wrecking their Moto2™ machines at Turn 11, all three fortunately walking away unscathed.

A mistake then came from Fernandez as a serious bobble at the final corner forced him off line and gave a chance that Bezzecchi wasn’t going to turn down. The bushy-haired Italian moved through to second and got his head down in the closing stages. Only four laps remained and Gardner had found a second wind, as had Lowes too. The pair, who battled it out across both weekends in Doha, were piling the pressure on Raul Fernandez in the fight for the final place on the podium. Only a handful of laps were left and both Di Giannantonio and Bezzechi were comfortably clear in first and second.

A mistake from Gardner into Turn 6, whilst trying to find a way through on teammate Fernandez, saw Lowes slice through and into fourth. Onto the penultimate lap and the fight for third was really heating up. Lowes elbowed Fernandez out of the way into Turn 2, sending the Spaniard wide and allowing Gardner to pounce too. The Australian was trying to apply some pressure to Lowes but the Brit’s late-race pace was untouchable and third was his.

Di Giannantonio pulled a huge stand-up wheelie over the line to celebrate a maiden Moto2™ victory in style, with Bezzecchi and Lowes joining him on the Jerez podium. Gardner took fourth ahead of Fernandez in fifth, with the title standings taking a significant shuffle as a result. Heading to Le Mans in a fortnight, it’s still Gardner that leads the way but Lowes now sits only three points adrift, with Fernandez a further three back in third.

Petronas Sprinta Racing’s Xavi Vierge was pushed all the way by Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) for sixth place, with the Spaniard holding on by just over a tenth of a second to the beat the Japanese rider to ten valuable points. Italtrans Racing Team’s Joe Roberts took the chequered flag in eighth, ahead of Inde Aspar Team’s Aron Canet in ninth. The fight for the final place inside the top ten was settled on the final lap when Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) crashed out whilst trying to find a way through on Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP), meaning the German ended tenth.

Top 10:
1. Fabio DiGiannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2)
2. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 1.722
3. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS) + 2.229
4. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 3.019
5. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 8.571
6. Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 12.181
7. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 12.313
8. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) + 12.523
9. Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team) + 14.407
10. Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 17.152.

GRAN PREMIO RED BULL DE ESPAÑA

Moto2 Race Classification 2021.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	156.0	39’07.396
2	20	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	155.8	+1.722
3	16	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	155.8	+2.229
4	13	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	155.8	+3.019
5	11	25	Raul FERNANDEZ	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	155.4	+8.571
6	10	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	155.2	+12.181
7	9	79	Ai OGURA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	155.1	+12.313
8	8	16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	155.1	+12.523
9	7	44	Aron CANET	SPA	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro	155.0	+14.407
10	6	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	154.8	+17.152
11	5	42	Marcos RAMIREZ	SPA	American Racing	Kalex	154.8	+18.071
12	4	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Lightech Speed Up	Boscoscuro	154.7	+18.720
13	3	62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	154.3	+25.775
14	2	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	154.3	+25.896
15	1	64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	154.2	+27.326
16		19	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	153.9	+31.359
17		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	153.6	+35.845
18		13	Celestino VIETTI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	153.6	+36.433
19		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	153.5	+38.197
20		5	Yari MONTELLA	ITA	Lightech Speed Up	Boscoscuro	153.4	+39.789
21		14	Tony ARBOLINO	ITA	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	153.3	+40.083
22		32	Taiga HADA	JPN	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	151.9	+1’02.980
23		10	Tommaso MARCON	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	150.8	+1’20.544
Not Classified
		6	Cameron BEAUBIER	USA	American Racing	Kalex	154.8	1 Lap
		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	153.7	10 Laps
		75	Albert ARENAS	SPA	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro	152.7	12 Laps
		40	Hector GARZO	SPA	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	152.4	18 Laps
		35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	149.7	20 Laps
		37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	151.5	21 Laps
		11	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	148.6	21 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2021.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	69
2	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	66
3	Raul FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	63
4	Marco BEZZECCHI	Kalex	ITA	56
5	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Kalex	ITA	52
6	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	USA	31
7	Aron CANET	Boscoscuro	SPA	30
8	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	26
9	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	23
10	Ai OGURA	Kalex	JPN	20
11	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	20
12	Celestino VIETTI	Kalex	ITA	13
13	Jorge NAVARRO	Boscoscuro	SPA	13
14	Cameron BEAUBIER	Kalex	USA	12
15	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Kalex	NED	12
16	Stefano MANZI	Kalex	ITA	11
17	Jake DIXON	Kalex	GBR	9
18	Hector GARZO	Kalex	SPA	8
19	Marcos RAMIREZ	Kalex	SPA	6
20	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	Kalex	ITA	6
21	Tony ARBOLINO	Kalex	ITA	5
22	Albert ARENAS	Boscoscuro	SPA	4
23	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	MV Agusta	ITA	4
24	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	1
25	Hafizh SYAHRIN	NTS	MAL
26	Nicolò BULEGA	Kalex	ITA
27	Yari MONTELLA	Boscoscuro	ITA
28	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA
29	Miquel PONS	MV Agusta	SPA
30	Fraser ROGERS	NTS	GBR
31	Taiga HADA	NTS	JPN
32	Tommaso MARCON	MV Agusta	ITA
33	Simone CORSI		ITA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

Moto2™ – Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini) takes emotional debut win to honour Gresini.

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GRAN PREMIO RED BULL DE ESPAÑA

Moto2 World Standing 2021.

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