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Aragon Moto2: Fernandez overcomes broken hand for assured victory

An injured Raul Fernandez dominated the Moto2 Aragon Grand Prix for the fifth win of the Ajo KTM rookie’s season after a late crash for poleman Sam Lowes.

Raul Fernandez, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Raul Fernandez, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

MotoGP-bound Fernandez broke a bone in his hand last Friday in a training incident and underwent surgery to correct it, but showed no signs of it holding him back at Aragon as he qualified third and eased to victory.

Poleman Lowes got his Marc VDS Kalex into the lead at the start of the 21-lap contest, with Ajo team-mate’s Remy Gardner and Fernandez following suit in grid order.

Fernandez quickly dispatched of Gardner into the Turn 12 left-hander, which allowed Lowes to open up a lead of over six tenths of a second.

Over the next few laps Fernandez was able to eat into Lowes’ advantage at the head of the pack, while Gardner didn’t have the pace to keep his hooks in his team-mate.

By lap five Gardner had dropped 1.6 seconds off the lead duo, while Fernandez had moved ahead of Lowes a tour earlier to take a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

Fernandez’s gap quickly opened to a second by lap seven and would steadily grow by a few more tenths before Lowes’ race came to an end on the 13th tour when he crashed at Turn 7.

Now over six seconds clear of Gardner behind following Lowes’ crash, Fernandez would continue to extend his lead to over eight seconds as he cruised to the chequered flag.

Gardner came under some pressure in the final two laps from the chasing Augusto Fernandez on the Marc VDS Kalex and Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro.

A 1-2 for Raul Fernandez and Gardner has secured the teams’ title for Ajo Motorsport.

Remy Gardner, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Remy Gardner, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

But the Australian was able to hold onto second through to the chequered flag to minimise his championship standings loss to just five points – his lead still a healthy 39 points going to Misano.

Augusto Fernandez was able to wipe a few more tenths out of Gardner’s advantage ahead of him, but the Marc VDS rider could do nothing to breach third ahead of Navarro.

Aspar’s Aron Canet had a lonely ride to fifth, with the Gresini Kalex of Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth ahead of an impressive Fermin Aldeguer on the other Speed Up bike on just the 16-year-old’s fourth Moto2 start.

Aldeguer beat Honda Team Asia’s Ai Ogura in the latter stages, with Intact GP duo Tony Arbolino and Marcel Schrotter rounding out the top 10 – though a post-race time penalty would demote the latter to 11th behind MV Agusta’s Simone Corsi.

A crash for VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi on lap 10 has all but demolished his 2021 title hopes, the Italian now 72 points adrift of championship leader Gardner.

John McPhee was 20th and 47.756s off the victory on his Moto2 debut on the Petronas Sprinta bike, taking Jake Dixon’s place as his fellow Brit contests this weekend’s MotoGP race for Petronas SRT.

Moto2 Aragon race results - 21 laps

Cla Rider Bike Time Gap
1 Spain Raúl Fernández Kalex -  
2 Australia Remy Gardner Kalex 5.408 5.408
3 Spain Augusto Fernandez Kalex 6.824 6.824
4 Spain Jorge Navarro Boscoscuro B-21 7.051 7.051
5 Spain Arón Canet Boscoscuro B-21 10.695 10.695
6 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio Kalex 15.160 15.160
7 Fermín Aldeguer Boscoscuro B-21 16.730 16.730
8 Japan Ai Ogura Kalex 17.085 17.085
9 Italy Tony Arbolino Kalex 17.704 17.704
10 Italy Simone Corsi MV Agusta 20.121 20.121
11 Germany Marcel Schrotter Kalex 20.852 20.852
12 Spain Marcos Ramirez Kalex 24.602 24.602
13 United States Joe Roberts Kalex 26.086 26.086
14 United States Cameron Beaubier Kalex 29.101 29.101
15 Italy Celestino Vietti Ramus Kalex 30.301 30.301
16 Belgium Barry Baltus NTS 30.420 30.420
17 Manuel Gonzalez MV Agusta 34.977 34.977
18 Italy Stefano Manzi Kalex 35.789 35.789
19 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin NTS 36.036 36.036
20 United Kingdom John McPhee Kalex 47.756 47.756
21 Andorra Xavi Cardelus Kalex 47.834 47.834
  Thailand Somkiat Chantra Kalex    
  Italy Nicolo Bulega Kalex    
  United Kingdom Sam Lowes Kalex    
  Netherlands Bo Bendsneyder Kalex    
  Italy Marco Bezzecchi Kalex    
  Italy Lorenzo Dalla Porta Kalex    
  Spain Albert Arenas Boscoscuro B-21    
  Spain Hector Garzo Kalex    
  Spain Xavi Vierge Kalex    
  Switzerland Thomas Luthi Kalex    
  Piotr Biesiekirski Kalex    

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