Jerez Moto2: Di Giannantonio claims dominant maiden win

Veteran team boss Fausto Gresini tragically died in February after a battle with COVID-19, with the team announcing earlier this week that ownership of the squad had been taken over by his wife Nadia Padovani.

Di Giannantonio jumped poleman Remy Gardner off the line and quickly opened up a gap of seven tenths after the first three laps on his Gresini Kalex.

The Italian clicked into a devastatingly consistent pace and, after five laps, was already a second clear of the field, with the gap quickly increasing to well over two seconds by the ninth tour.

Ajo KTM rookie Raul Fernandez moved into the podium places on the third lap after moving ahead of Marc VDS’ Augusto Fernandez and began to ease his way towards team-mate Gardner.

Fernandez moved into second ahead of Gardner at the Angel Nieto right-hander on lap nine, with Marco Bezzecchi on the VR46 Kalex following suit on lap 11 after a brief battle with Sam Lowes.

In clean air, Fernandez was able to knock a few tenths off of Di Giannantonio’s lead, the Ajo rider closing the gap down to 2.1s by mid-distance.

But Fernandez’s pace wilted a little in the latter stages, Di Giannantonio able to push his advantage at the front back up to over 2.5s.

Fabio di Giannantonio, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 leads

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bezzecchi put Fernandez under immense pressure before taking second away from the Spaniard at the first corner on lap 18.

The VR46 rider was able to quickly pull away from Fernandez, but could do nothing to mount any pressure on Di Giannantonio, who eased to the chequered flag for his first Moto2 victory.

Bezzecchi held onto second for his first podium of the season, while Lowes completed the rostrum on his Marc VDS Kalex after passing Fernandez at Turn 2 on the penultimate lap.

Fernandez hit major grip issues in the latter stages and was powerless to stop team-mate Gardner demoting him to fifth when Lowes moved into third.

Gardner’s fourth keeps him in the lead of the championship by three points from Lowes, with 17 points covering Gardner, Lowes, Fernandez, Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio after four rounds.

Xavi Vierge was sixth on the sole Petronas Sprinta Kalex in the race after Jake Dixon was forced to withdraw due to a concussion from a crash in Sunday morning warm-up.

Honda Team Asia rookie Ai Ogura got his Kalex chassis to the chequered flag in seventh ahead of Italtrans’ Joe Roberts, Aron Canet (Aspar) and Intact GP’s Marcel Schrotter.

Moto2 Jerez race results - 23 laps

Cla	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Kalex	-
2	Marco Bezzecchi	Kalex	1.722	1.722
3	Sam Lowes	Kalex	2.229	2.229
4	Remy Gardner	Kalex	3.019	3.019
5	Raúl Fernández	Kalex	8.571	8.571
6	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	12.181	12.181
7	Ai Ogura	Kalex	12.313	12.313
8	Joe Roberts	Kalex	12.523	12.523
9	Arón Canet	Boscoscuro B-21	14.407	14.407
10	Marcel Schrotter	Kalex	17.152	17.152
11	Marcos Ramirez	Kalex	18.071	18.071
12	Jorge Navarro	Boscoscuro B-21	18.720	18.720
13	Stefano Manzi	Kalex	25.775	25.775
14	Lorenzo Baldassarri	MV Agusta	25.896	25.896
15	Bo Bendsneyder	Kalex	27.326	27.326
16	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Kalex	31.359	31.359
17	Hafizh Syahrin	NTS	35.845	35.845
18	Celestino Vietti Ramus	Kalex	36.433	36.433
19	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	38.197	38.197
20	Yari Montella	Boscoscuro B-21	39.789	39.789
21	Tony Arbolino	Kalex	40.083	40.083
22	Taiga Hada	NTS	1'02.980	1'02.980
23	Tommaso Marcon	MV Agusta	1'20.544	1'20.544
	Cameron Beaubier	Kalex
	Simone Corsi	MV Agusta
	Albert Arenas	Boscoscuro B-21
	Hector Garzo	Kalex
	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex
	Augusto Fernandez	Kalex
	Nicolo Bulega	Kalex
View full results