Moto2™ – Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) fends off Gardner for Le Mans win.

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It’s now two wins in the last three Moto2™ races for rookie Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) after another flawless display at the SHARK Grand Prix de France. The Spaniard made no mistake on Sunday afternoon and led home teammate Remy Gardner by 1.4s, Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) completed the podium as title contender Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) suffers an early DNF.

With no rain falling since Moto2™ Warm Up, the circuit had a clear dry line after the Moto3™ race. This meant everyone was starting on Dunlop slick tyres for the intermediate class encounter in France, and it was Bezzecchi who pounced into the lead from the start as Raul Fernandez managed to cement P2, the field safely negotiating Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 1. There was contact between Gardner and Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) though, but disaster was avoided. Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team) was making early progress but the Spaniard was down hard at Turn 9 on the opening lap, a vicious highside ended his hopes of a second podium of 2021.

Lap 2 saw Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) crash out of the top three, a disaster for the Spaniard, with Raul Fernandez bridging the early gap that Bezzecchi had pulled on the field. World Championship leader Gardner and nearest challenger Lowes were P9 and P8 respectively, with the top three – Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez and Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) – enjoying a 1 sec. lead over the gaggle of riders from P4 to P11.

Lap 4 then witnessed three riders all go off the road at Turn 8 – including Lowes. Up the inside of Vierge, Lowes tucked the front as both went down, with Lorenzo Baldassarri (MV Agusta Forward Racing) running wide just ahead of the duo. Unable to get going again, Lowes’ French GP was over. Then, running P2, Roberts was down at Turn 9 after running in too hot on the brakes. Raul Fernandez picked up the baton and led the race in a dramatic opening handful of laps in the Moto2™ race.

Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) was occupying P3 with Gardner now up to 4th, but he had hard-charging rookie Tony Arbolino (Liqui Moly Intact GP) climbing all over the back of him. Hector Garzo (Flexbox HP40) crashed out from P6 at Turn 11, with a little helping hand from Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), as two seconds covered the top five heading onto Lap 9 – the Italian was handed a long-lap penalty.

Raul Fernandez was edging his lead up to a second over Bezzecchi, the latter slowly falling into the grasps of Bendsneyder, Gardner and Arbolino. After Diggia’s long-lap, the leading quintet were six seconds ahead of sixth place Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP), the German entangled in a fight with rookies Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and his teammate Somkiat Chantra.

The race then settled with Raul Fernandez keeping his advantage around the one second mark, with Bezzecchi pulling nearly a second clear of the trio behind him. On Lap 14, the race leader set a 1:36.993 to stretch his lead to 1.2s over Bezzecchi. However, a lap later it was back down to below a second as Fernandez’s teammate Gardner poached third off Bendsneyder at Turn 11 – the Aussie was 2.2s behind the race leader. A lap later, Arbolino then slipped past Bendsneyder as the latter had a good look over his shoulder. He didn’t see anyone though, Beaubier was 14 seconds further back in P6.

Now in clean air, the Gardner charge was on. A fastest lap of the race was set by the Ajo rider but it was only narrowly quicker than Bezzecchi ahead of him, the gap separating the top three was 1.7s with seven to go. Bezzecchi then made a mistake at Turn 8, running wide onto the green, allowing Gardner to stroll through into P2. With the bit between his teeth, Gardner reeled in teammate Fernandez by four tenths on Lap 20 of 25, setting up a very intriguing final five laps between two title contenders.

Undeterred though, Raul Fernandez was holding his nerve. As he clocked another lap and headed onto Lap 23, the Spaniard set his fastest lap of the race and his lead was now 1.8s. And with one lap remaining in France, Fernandez’s gap to Gardner was 1.9s, with the latter 2.9s ahead of Bezzecchi in third place. No mistakes were made from the rookie sensation on the final lap, and Fernandez crossed the line to win his second race of 2021. Aki Ajo has unearthed a new star, with Gardner making it a Red Bull KTM Ajo 1-2 as a single point splits Gardner and Raul Fernandez in the overall standings. For Gardner, that’s now four podiums in five to begin the campaign.

Bezzecchi pockets his second podium in a row with a solid P3 ride, Arbolino lands his best Moto2™ result with a fantastic P4 at Le Mans. Bendsneyder faded late on but the Dutch rider earns his best result of the season in P5, the same can be said for sixth place Schrötter. Ogura cements another top 10 in P7 as three rookies finish inside the top 10, Di Giannantonio had to take two long-lap penalties after messing up his first attempt, but P8 is a good salvage job.

Veteran Simone Corsi (MV Agusta Forward Racing) produced his best ride of the season to finish P9, Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up) completes the top 10. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing Team), Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), Marcos Ramirez (American Racing) and reigning Moto3™ World Champion Albert Arenas (Inde Aspar Team) are the remaining point scorers.

Beaubier crashed out of sixth place at Turn 3 in the latter stages, Tom Lüthi (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) was another rider to crash out of the points.

Another day that belongs to Red Bull KTM Ajo, as Gardner and Raul Fernandez now sit P1 and P2 in the World Championship. Lowes loses crucial ground as Bezzecchi keeps tabs on his title rivals, with the latter’s home race at Mugello now next up.

Top 10:
1. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
2. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 1.490
3. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team) + 4.599
4. Tony Arbolino (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 7.503
5. Bo Bendsnyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) +11.887
6. Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 27.829
7. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 27.975
8. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) + 28.112
9. Simone Corsi (MV Augusta Forward Racing) + 28.204
10. Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up) + 28.432.

SHARK GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE

Moto2 Race Classification 2021

Le Mans, Sunday, May 16, 2021

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	25	Raul FERNANDEZ	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	153.9	40’46.101
2	20	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	153.8	+1.490
3	16	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	153.6	+4.599
4	13	14	Tony ARBOLINO	ITA	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	153.5	+7.503
5	11	64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	153.2	+11.887
6	10	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	152.2	+27.829
7	9	79	Ai OGURA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	152.2	+27.975
8	8	21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	152.2	+28.112
9	7	24	Simone CORSI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	152.2	+28.204
10	6	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	MB Conveyors Speed Up	Boscoscuro	152.2	+28.432
11	5	19	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	152.1	+28.989
12	4	35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	152.1	+28.749
13	3	11	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	152.1	+29.316
14	2	42	Marcos RAMIREZ	SPA	American Racing	Kalex	152.0	+31.605
15	1	75	Albert ARENAS	SPA	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro	151.9	+32.080
16		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	151.9	+32.571
17		70	Barry BALTUS	BEL	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	151.9	+33.309
18		7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	151.5	+39.036
19		96	Jake DIXON	GBR	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	151.4	+41.069
20		13	Celestino VIETTI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	151.1	+45.599
21		10	Tommaso MARCON	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	149.1	+1’19.160
Not Classified
		6	Cameron BEAUBIER	USA	American Racing	Kalex	152.1	5 Laps
		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	151.2	11 Laps
		40	Hector GARZO	SPA	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	150.7	19 Laps
		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	150.4	21 Laps
		97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	148.6	22 Laps
		22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	148.5	22 Laps
		62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	145.9	23 Laps
		2	Alonso LOPEZ	SPA	MB Conveyors Speed Up	Boscoscuro	142.6	23 Laps
		37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	143.7	24 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		44	Aron CANET	SPA	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro		0 Lap

Moto2 World Standing 2021

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	89
2	Raul FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	88
3	Marco BEZZECCHI	Kalex	ITA	72
4	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	66
5	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Kalex	ITA	60
6	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	USA	31
7	Aron CANET	Boscoscuro	SPA	30
8	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	30
9	Ai OGURA	Kalex	JPN	29
10	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	26
11	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Kalex	NED	24
12	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	23
13	Jorge NAVARRO	Boscoscuro	SPA	19
14	Tony ARBOLINO	Kalex	ITA	18
15	Celestino VIETTI	Kalex	ITA	13
16	Cameron BEAUBIER	Kalex	USA	12
17	Stefano MANZI	Kalex	ITA	11
18	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	Kalex	ITA	11
19	Jake DIXON	Kalex	GBR	9
20	Hector GARZO	Kalex	SPA	8
21	Marcos RAMIREZ	Kalex	SPA	8
22	Simone CORSI	MV Agusta	ITA	7
23	Albert ARENAS	Boscoscuro	SPA	5
24	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	4
25	Nicolò BULEGA	Kalex	ITA	3
26	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	MV Agusta	ITA	3
27	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	1
28	Hafizh SYAHRIN	NTS	MAL
29	Barry BALTUS	NTS	BEL
30	Yari MONTELLA	Boscoscuro	ITA
31	Miquel PONS	MV Agusta	SPA
32	Fraser ROGERS	NTS	GBR
33	Tommaso MARCON	MV Agusta	ITA
34	Taiga HADA	NTS	JPN
35	Alonso LOPEZ		SPA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com