Moto2™ – Rookie of the Year! Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) victorious yet again in Misano.

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What a talent Raul Fernandez is and what a title race we have in the Moto2™ Championship after the rookie Spaniard took victory, a sixth of the season, at the Octo Grand Prix of San Marino. The Spaniard leads yet another Red Bull KTM Ajo one-two on the podium, with teammate Remy Gardner finishing 0.402s behind and Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team) rounding out the rostrum places.

Fernandez started on pole in Misano and any hopes he had of a breakaway win after taking the holeshot were quickly dashed, going wide at Turn 9 as he tried to fight off Sam Lowes’ (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) challenge, but the Brit nudged himself ahead and led at the end of the first lap. There were also strong starts from Canet, Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team) as they occupied the top five spots, with Gardner and front row starter Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) dropping further down the field.

After four laps, the race lost Simone Corsi (MV Augusta Forward Racing) after an incident with Jorge Navarro, which earned the Lightech Speed Up rider a long lap penalty. Further up the field, Canet showed he wasn’t here to just make up the numbers as he moved ahead of Fernandez and set a race lap record in the process, while he soon had Lowes’ number. A mistake from the Marc VDS rider let the number 44 through for the lead and the Brit dropped to third. Behind him was Aussie Gardner, who had been making moves to get himself onto the tail of the lead group.

As the laps were chalked off, the front four formed a breakaway group while the Red Bull KTM Ajos began to find some pace, with Fernandez eating away at Canet’s advantage until he eventually made what would prove the race winning overtake on the 15th lap, doing his compatriot on the brakes at Turn 1. This prompted Championship leader Gardner into action, the Aussie making his move on the outside of Lowes at the same corner.

Specks of rain began to fall but it didn’t affect the on-track drama, Fernandez responding to pressure from Canet with the first ever 1:36 lap around Misano. Despite his impressive speed, he couldn’t shake off the close attention of the men in P2 and P3, while the next few laps saw Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italatrans Racing Team) and Barry Baltus (NTS RW Racing Group) crash out of the race.

In the closing laps, the race leader extended his lead to nearly a second, and looked set to cruise to victory, but Gardner wasn’t having any of it, disposing of Canet on the penultimate lap and then began taking huge chunks out of his teammate’s time, and we were set up for a grandstand finish. The gap was down to less than half a second, and with a track limits warning not helping matters for Fernandez it was game on!

Gardner continued to close the gap until the decisive moment came at Turn 11, when the Aussie lost grip coming out of the exit and a wobble caused him to lose momentum, causing him to go from attack to defence as he clung onto P2 and 20 crucial Championship points.

Another win for Fernandez secures him the Moto2™ Rookie of the Year crown and sees him move to within 34 points of his teammate with four races remaining, meaning it is all to play for. Behind Lowes, Bezzecchi picked up another top five finish but is out of the Championship running, while Augusto Fernandez would have been hoping for more than a P6 finish after his strong weekend form.

Elsewhere, there were good point scoring results for Vierge, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46), who round out the top 10.

Top 10:

1. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – 1:36.938
2. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.402
3. Aron Canet (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 0.569
4. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) + 1.578
5. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 4.920
6. Augusto Fernandez (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) + 5.361
7. Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) + 6.236
8. Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 7.468
9. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) + 7.562
10. Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 13.230.

GP OCTO DI SAN MARINO E DELLA RIVIERA DI RIMINI

Moto2 Race Classification 2021

Misano Adriatico, Sunday, September 19, 2021

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	25	Raul FERNANDEZ	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	155.8	40’40.563
2	20	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	155.8	+0.402
3	16	44	Aron CANET	SPA	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro	155.8	+0.569
4	13	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	155.7	+1.578
5	11	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	155.5	+4.920
6	10	37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	155.4	+5.361
7	9	79	Ai OGURA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	155.4	+6.236
8	8	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	155.3	+7.468
9	7	21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	155.3	+7.562
10	6	13	Celestino VIETTI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	155.0	+13.230
11	5	12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	154.8	+15.596
12	4	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	154.8	+16.172
13	3	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	+EGO Speed Up	Boscoscuro	154.5	+20.234
14	2	42	Marcos RAMIREZ	SPA	American Racing	Kalex	154.3	+22.819
15	1	14	Tony ARBOLINO	ITA	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	154.3	+23.015
16		62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	154.1	+26.152
17		11	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	154.1	+26.987
18		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	154.1	+27.231
19		96	Jake DIXON	GBR	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	154.0	+28.150
20		40	Hector GARZO	SPA	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	154.0	+28.526
21		6	Cameron BEAUBIER	USA	American Racing	Kalex	153.9	+29.864
22		75	Albert ARENAS	SPA	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro	153.7	+33.140
23		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	153.5	+36.098
24		7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	153.0	+43.861
25		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	152.8	+47.329
Not Classified
		35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	154.2	3 Laps
		19	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	154.5	6 Laps
		70	Barry BALTUS	BEL	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	152.7	13 Laps
		5	Yari MONTELLA	ITA	+EGO Speed Up	Boscoscuro	152.7	13 Laps
		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	146.5	23 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2021

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	271
2	Raul FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	237
3	Marco BEZZECCHI	Kalex	ITA	190
4	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	140
5	Aron CANET	Boscoscuro	SPA	119
6	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	118
7	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Kalex	ITA	108
8	Ai OGURA	Kalex	JPN	104
9	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	84
10	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	75
11	Jorge NAVARRO	Boscoscuro	SPA	74
12	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	USA	59
13	Celestino VIETTI	Kalex	ITA	53
14	Tony ARBOLINO	Kalex	ITA	41
15	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Kalex	NED	40
16	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	35
17	Cameron BEAUBIER	Kalex	USA	28
18	Albert ARENAS	Boscoscuro	SPA	23
19	Marcos RAMIREZ	Kalex	SPA	22
20	Jake DIXON	Kalex	GBR	21
21	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	21
22	Stefano MANZI	Kalex	ITA	20
23	Fermín ALDEGUER	Boscoscuro	SPA	13
24	Simone CORSI	MV Agusta	ITA	13
25	Hector GARZO	Kalex	SPA	12
26	Nicolò BULEGA	Kalex	ITA	12
27	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	Kalex	ITA	10
28	Hafizh SYAHRIN	NTS	MAL	8
29	Alonso LOPEZ	Boscoscuro	SPA	4
30	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	MV Agusta	ITA	3
31	Barry BALTUS	NTS	BEL	2
32	Manuel GONZALEZ	MV Agusta	SPA
33	Yari MONTELLA	Boscoscuro	ITA
34	Tommaso MARCON	MV Agusta	ITA
35	Miquel PONS	MV Agusta	SPA
36	John MCPHEE	Kalex	GBR
37	Fraser ROGERS	NTS	GBR
38	Taiga HADA		JPN
38	Taiga HADA	Kalex	JPN
39	Xavi CARDELUS	Kalex	AND
40	Piotr BIESIEKIRSKI	Kalex	POL
41	Keminth KUBO	Kalex	THA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

Moto2™ – Rookie of the Year! Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) victorious yet again in Misano.

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GP OCTO DI SAN MARINO E DELLA RIVIERA DI RIMINI

Moto2 World Standing 2021

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