German Moto2: Peerless Gardner takes historic third consecutive win
Remy Gardner was untouchable as he dominated the 200th Moto2 Grand Prix in Germany, round eight of the championship, becoming the first Australian to win three consecutive intermediate class races in the process.
After dominating free practice, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider’s only mis-step came in qualifying where he still claimed a front row slot in third.
He was pushed over the first handful of laps by his team-mate Raul Fernandez, who struggled to match the pace of Gardner, pushing too hard to keep behind after being passed from his pole start. Under pressure, the rookie slid out of contention with 24 laps remaining.
There was a huge amount of race left to run but the damage was done for the rest of the field. The number 87 kept his concentration, lapped at his own pace and increased his championship points tally to 164, 36 clear of Fernandez after his DNF. Gardner celebrated by letting off fireworks with the race marshals.
It was left to Aron Canet to give chase, but he could not bridge the gap, as Gardner pulled away to lead by over seven seconds at one point, managed to 6.158s at the line.
Second marked great improvements for the Aspar Boscoscuro rider, who was way down the order in practice testing new parts and upgrades for the manufacturer.
It was a similar story for third placed Marco Bezzecchi, as low as 19th over the course of the weekend, he made a big comeback to qualify fourth after coming through Q1, which he continued into the race. Bezzecchi enjoyed a race-long battle, fending off the advances of MotoGP bound Fabio Di Giannantonio, who put in a series of overtake moves on his fellow countryman. The Italian also put in a final charge to catch Canet on the Sky Racing VR46 bike, but the Spaniard responded and maintaned his gap.
Fourth went to the Federal Oil Gresini rider, who had the pressure lifted as both Xavi Vierge and Ai Ogura crashed on the final lap behind him.
Those falls and a superb late overtake on Marcel Schrotter saw Sam Lowes recover from his poor start which saw him go backwards from seventh on the grid to claim fifth on the Elf Marc VDS bike after a tough weekend for both rider and team, with Augusto Fernandez failing to finish.
That pushed Schrotter,the only home rider in the paddock, back to sixth for Liqui Moly IntactGP, at the teams local race.
Jorge Navarro climbed to ninth for +Ego Speed Up, with Cameron Baubier over 26 seconds behind Gardner in a splintered race but back inside the top ten for American Racing as the top rookie finisher.
Eleventh went to a spirited comeback from Nicolo Bulega, who made up places late on for Federal Oil Gresini.
Alonso Lopez made the most of his replacement ride at Flexbox HP40 for twelfth.
The remaining points on offer went to SAG Team rider Bo Bendsneyder in 13th, Barry Baltus (NTS RW Racing) in 14th and Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46) in 15th.
Jake Dixon started brightly for Petronas, but contact with Augusto Fernandez, causing his fall, saw him plummet out of the points places and the British rider never recovered, finishing 21st - the last rider to see the chequered flag.
A trip through the gravel saw Somkiat Chantra drop down the times to finish 18th. Tom Luthi made his way from the back of the grid to do the same and finish 19th.
Fellow class veteran Simone Corsi had an even tougher time in Germany - he crashed just after the start from the back of the grid.
Joe Roberts joined Vierge and Ogura in crashing on the final lap. Lorenzo Dalla Porta retired to the pits with a bike issue.
Lorenzo Baldassarri and Yari Montella’s repalcement at Speed Up, Fermin Aldeguer, also failed to go the distance.
