Moto2™ – Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) handed victory after Martin last lap controversy.

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SKY Racing Team VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi has his first Moto2™ victory despite coming across the line in second place behind Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in a dramatic BMW M Grand Prix of Styria. The Spaniard took the chequered flag and began celebrating an Austrian double only for the former Moto3™ World Champion to be told in Parc Ferme he needs to park in P2, not P1, after exceeding track limits on the exit of Turn 8 on the final lap of the race. As a result, Bezzecchi stood on the top step of the podium alongside Martin and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team).

Martin took the holeshot from second on the grid, with poleman Aron Canet (Openbank Aspar Team) settling into second behind him. EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Augusto Fernandez became the first faller on the opening lap as the Spaniard tucked the front at the final corner out of fourth place. Rookie Canet then joined him in the gravel, tucking the front after braking a tad too late downhill into Turn 4.

The second of the EG 0,0 Marc VDS riders, Sam Lowes, then crashed out too in a nasty incident at Turn 3. The Brit got it horribly wrong on the brakes and wiped out the innocent Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Jorge Navarro (EG0+ Speed Up) without any warning. Lowes rejoined but was handed a black flag for his error, however, his race came to an end with a second crash instead of pulling out of the race due to his disqualification.

15 laps were left in the Red Bull Ring when Gardner edged his way past former title leader Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) for second place with Bezzecchi right on Nagashima’s tail too. The Japanese rider was demoted back to fourth moments later when Bezzecchi got the job done for third into Turn 4.

Five further laps ticked by before Bezzecchi was then able to draft his way past Gardner on the run up the hill towards Turn 3 but Gardner was imperious on the brakes, coming from a postcode further back to somehow get back under the Italian. However, the Aussie’s lunge hampered his drive out of Turn 3 and Bezzecchi took the place back before then tapping the rear of his Kalex to indicate he felt he had the pace to chase down the race leader.

Martin up to this point had had a fairly uneventful race but that was all to change with Bezzecchi putting together the late charge of all late charges. 1.8 seconds was the Spaniard’s advantage before that then became 1.2 seconds with six laps left. In the space of two laps, the advantage was halved to 0.6 of a second and suddenly the former Moto3™ sparring partners were about to go to war in Moto2™ for the first time.

Time was running out for Bezzecchi though, he only had two laps left to find a move on Martin, who himself was desperately trying to respond. The pair entered the final lap with nothing between them and despite all of the pressure, Martin came across the line to seemingly clinch a Red Bull Ring double with victory in the Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix.

However, upon review, Martin did exceed track limits by the narrowest of margins on the exit of Turn 8 on the final lap and consequently was demoted one place, meaning Bezzecchi’s late pressure had paid off and he was a Moto2™ race winner for the first time in his career.

Gardner was a second adrift of the top two in third to secure only his second career rostrum, a first trip to the podium for the likeable and determined Australian since Argentina last year. Nagashima will be hoping to reignite his title challenge after taking fourth, the best result since a hat-trick of finishes outside of the top ten. Completing the top five Liqui Moly Intact GP’s Tom Lüthi.

Petronas Sprinta Racing’s Xavi Vierge held off late pressure from Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46), who extended his World Championship lead out to eight points as a result. Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing) enjoyed his first top ten Grand Prix finish after fighting past Hector Garzo (FlexBox HP40) in the closing stages to take a commendable eighth place finish, before Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) completed the top ten.

Top 10:
1. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46)
2. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo)*
3. Remy Gardner (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) + 1.027
4. Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 1.974
5. Tom Lüthi (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 3.230
6. Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 6.196
7. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 8.634
8. Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 9.005
9. Hector Garzo (Flexbox HP 40) + 9.620
10. Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) + 10.051
*demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the last lap.

BMW M GRAND PRIX OF STYRIA

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	174.0	37’12.461
2	20	88	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	174.0	0 Lap
3	16	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Onexox TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	173.9	+1.027
4	13	45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	173.9	+1.974
5	11	12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	173.8	+3.230
6	10	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	173.5	+6.196
7	9	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	173.4	+8.634
8	8	96	Jake DIXON	GBR	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	173.3	+9.005
9	7	40	Hector GARZO	SPA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex	173.3	+9.620
10	6	33	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	173.2	+10.051
11	5	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	173.2	+10.238
12	4	16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	Tennor American Racing	Kalex	172.9	+14.857
13	3	11	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	172.6	+17.968
14	2	62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	172.4	+20.956
15	1	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex	172.4	+21.189
16		42	Marcos RAMIREZ	SPA	Tennor American Racing	Kalex	172.4	+21.497
17		19	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	172.0	+26.471
18		21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	+ EGO Speed Up	Speed Up	172.0	+26.952
19		57	Edgar PONS	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	172.0	+29.400
20		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	171.7	+30.859
21		99	Kasma DANIEL	MAL	Onexox TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	170.7	+43.828
22		5	Alejandro MEDINA	SPA	Openbank Aspar Team	Speed Up	169.8	+55.353
23		27	Andi Farid IZDIHAR	INA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	169.5	+1’00.005
24		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	170.8	+1’10.576
Not Classified
		77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	166.3	6 Laps
		37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	166.4	11 Laps
		9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	+ EGO Speed Up	Speed Up	167.4	23 Laps
		35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	167.1	23 Laps
		44	Aron CANET	SPA	Openbank Aspar Team	Speed Up	166.8	24 Laps
Excluded
		22	Sam LOWES	GBR	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex		0 Lap

Moto2 World Standing 2020

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	87
2	Enea BASTIANINI	Kalex	ITA	79
3	Jorge MARTIN	Kalex	SPA	79
4	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	68
5	Marco BEZZECCHI	Kalex	ITA	65
6	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	59
7	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	46
8	Aron CANET	Speed Up	SPA	43
9	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	41
10	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	USA	39
11	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	37
12	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	35
13	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	34
14	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	25
15	Jorge NAVARRO	Speed Up	SPA	19
16	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Speed Up	MAL	17
17	Stefano MANZI	MV Agusta	ITA	15
18	Jake DIXON	Kalex	GBR	12
19	Hector GARZO	Kalex	SPA	12
20	Nicolò BULEGA	Kalex	ITA	11
21	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NTS	NED	5
22	Dominique AEGERTER	NTS	SWI	4
23	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Speed Up	ITA	3
24	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	3
25	Marcos RAMIREZ	Kalex	SPA	1
26	Simone CORSI	MV Agusta	ITA	1
27	Edgar PONS	Kalex	SPA
28	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	Kalex	ITA
29	Andi Farid IZDIHAR	Kalex	INA
30	Kasma DANIEL	Kalex	MAL
31	Jesko RAFFIN	NTS	SWI
32	Alejandro MEDINA	Speed Up	SPA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

Moto2™ – Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) handed victory after Martin last lap controversy.

44-aron-canet_dsc5255.small

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BMW M GRAND PRIX OF STYRIA

Moto2 World Standing 2020

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