Augusto Fernández won the battle with Sam Lowes for the lead and didn't let go. The Spaniard opened a good advantage and won the German Moto2 GP in a comfortable way
Although pole-position Sam Lowes got off to a good start at the Moto2 German GP, he could not withstand the pressure from Augusto Fernández. The Spaniard overtook him on lap 23 for the lead, where he stayed comfortably until the flag. It is the #37's second win of the season.
Lowes also failed to win the battle against Pedro Acosta, who finished second, completing the Ajo double. The Marc VDS rider, therefore, finished third. Marcel Schrötter and Fermín Aldeguer appear behind.
Completing the top-10 are Albert Arenas, Alonso López, Ai Ogura, Arón Canet, and Tony Arbolino. Championship leader Celestino Vietti lost control with seven laps to go, crashed in turn 1, and abandoned the race at Sachsenring.
With the result, Vietti is still leading the World Drivers' Championship, but now only eight points ahead of Ai Ogura. Fernández is 12 points behind the leader and only five ahead of Arón Canet. Tony Arbolino is fifth in the standings, followed by Joe Roberts, Schrötter, Acosta, Somkiat Chantra, and Jake Dixon.
Moto2 is back on track next week for the Dutch GP in Assen, the 11th round of the 2022 season.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 Moto2 World Championship.
Find out how the Moto2 German Grand Prix went:
The hot weather that marked the weekend at Sachsenring continued to roast Sunday as well. Before the start of the Moto2 race, the thermometers measured 34°C, with the asphalt reaching 48°C. The relative humidity was 24%, with the wind blowing at 16 km/h.
At the start, pole Sam Lowes held the lead, with Augusto Fernández jumping briefly into second place before being overtaken by Marcel Schrötter. Albert Arenas was fourth, ahead of Joe Robert. Arón Canet, still suffering from the consequences of a car accident last weekend, got off badly and dropped to 12th.
Trying to score a point for the first time since the Argentinean GP, Lowes soon tried to open up a margin, getting within 0s3 of Schrötter already in the first part of the Sachsenring track. The home rider, however, did not let the trend continue and completed the first lap close together, threatening the lead.
Arenas managed to pass Fernández and move up to third. Acosta was fifth, ahead of Roberts, Jake Dixon, Tony Arbolino, and Canet. Celestino Vietti was 11th.
Fernández managed to pull himself together and climbed up to third once again, trying to catch Schrötter, who was pressing Lows for the lead. Still on lap five, Augusto passed Marcel and took up the chase for the British leader.
Meanwhile, Jorge Navarro crashed at turn 13 and abandoned the race. The Spaniard suffered no major injuries.
The championship leader, Vietti, was falling down the table and, to make matters worse, he saw Ai Ogura rise. The World Championship runner-up appeared on lap five to take 12th place from the VR46 driver.
As lap 6 opened, Fernández took the lead of the race with a maneuver on the inside from Lowes, and as soon as he passed, he pulled away immediately, giving Alex's twin no chance to react. Further back, Acosta passed Arenas and settled into fourth.
Schrötter made a mistake in turn 13 and was overtaken by Acosta and Arenas, but managed to at least recover the position that had gone to Albert, staying in fourth.
At the top, Fernández had already broken through the field and, with 20 laps to go, was 1s097 ahead of Lowes. The Marc VDS Briton was also slightly out of company, 0s7 ahead of Acosta.
On lap 12, Niccolò Antonelli crashed at turn 13, the Queckenberg, and abandoned the race. The Italian suffered no major injuries.
Meanwhile, Fernández already had more than 3s1 of margin to Lowes, who saw Acosta getting closer and closer. Schrötter was fourth, ahead of Arenas and Canet. Ogura had just moved up to ninth, ahead of Tony Arbolino, Joe Roberts, and Jake Dixon. Vietti was only 13th.
With 14 laps to go Lowes made a mistake, which allowed Acosta to take second place without too much difficulty, already 4s854 behind his Ajo partner. Fourth, Schrötter was not so far behind, as was Arenas.
With ten laps to go Vietti was able to pass Dixon on the inside to take 13th place, 0s668 behind Manuel Gonzalez, who was 12th. Ogura was ninth, close behind Alonso López, eighth.
With seven laps to go, an important setback in the championship: Vietti crashed in turn 1 and abandoned the race. The tumble happened just after the VR46 driver had passed Manu for 11th place. At this point in the race, Ogura was eighth, 0s596 behind López, and was soon informed of his opponent's knockout.
With four laps to go, Ajo's double-double went into space, as the veteran Lowes managed to pass Acosta. The Spanish 'shark', however, did not swallow quietly and gave the change, but the dispute continued, with a new English attack Pedro, again, managed to respond, which brought even closer Schrötter. The home rider then had a go at Sam, taking third place.
On the penultimate lap Lowes passed Marcel and returned to third place, 0s644 behind Acosta. Fermín Aldeguer, however, was already there, ready to enter the podium.
At the flag, Fernández was 7s704 ahead of Acosta, with Lowes confirming third place to end his dry run of Moto2 points even after a touch in the last corner. Schrötter was fourth, ahead of Aldeguer.