Gardner fourth as Di Giannantonio becomes Moto2 race winner

Remy Gardner continues to lead the Moto2 championship after finishing fourth at Jerez, where Fabio Di Giannantonio got his first win in the intermediate class.

Gardner qualified on pole on his Red Bull KTM Ajo entry but it was Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini) who led the field away for the 23-lap race, ahead of the Australian.

Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46) took up third but very nearly ran off when they arrived at Dry Sack (Turn 6), ceding positions to Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS), Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo), and more.

Third position changed hands again at the start of Lap 3, when Raul Fernandez went past Augusto Fernandez, just before the latter crashed out at Dry Sack.

Gardner had drifted more than two seconds away from Di Giannantonio when he was overtaken by Raul Fernandez on Lap 8.

The second-generation rider ceded third spot to Bezzecchi, who had dropped as far back as seventh, on Lap 11, before the Italian capitalised on a Raul Fernandez wobble to take second as Lap 17 became Lap 18.

Gardner caught his Red Bull KTM Ajo team-mate but an error at Dry Sack on Lap 20 meant he instead slipped behind Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS).

When Lowes made a forceful move on Raul Fernandez at Turn 2 on the penultimate lap, Gardner followed him through.

Up the road, Di Giannantonio took a comfortable victory, ahead of Bezzecchi, Lowes, Gardner, and Raul Fernandez.

Gardner’s championship lead is a slightly reduced three points, with Lowes up to second and Raul Fernandez down one place to third.

“Overall, I’m satisfied with today, although we suffered a lot in the race,” said the Aussie.

“Right from the start, I felt a bit strange, so we have to analyse what happened ahead of the next contest.

“However, I am happy with the work we did. Finishing fourth on a difficult day is a good thing, and we also picked up some important points that keep us alive in the championship.”

In Moto3, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Pedro Acosta extended his championship lead with a third straight win as carnage unfolded at the end.

Acosta went defensive into the final corner while, immediately behind, Deniz Oncu went down and took Jaume Masia and Darryn Binder with him.

Round 5 is the French Grand Prix at Le Mans on May 14-16.

Race results: Spanish Moto2 Grand Prix

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	39:07.396
2	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	+1.722
3	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	+2.229
4	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	+3.019
5	25	Raul FERNANDEZ	ESP	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	+8.571
6	97	Xavi VIERGE	ESP	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	+12.181
7	79	Ai OGURA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	+12.313
8	16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	+12.523
9	44	Aron CANET	ESP	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro	+14.407
10	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	+17.152
11	42	Marcos RAMIREZ	ESP	American Racing	Kalex	+18.071
12	9	Jorge NAVARRO	ESP	Lightech Speed Up	Boscoscuro	+18.720
13	62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	+25.775
14	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	+25.896
15	64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	+27.326
16	19	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	+31.359
17	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAS	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	+35.845
18	13	Celestino VIETTI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	+36.433
19	12	Thomas LUTHI	SUI	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	+38.197
20	5	Yari MONTELLA	ITA	Lightech Speed Up	Boscoscuro	+39.789
21	14	Tony ARBOLINO	ITA	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	+40.083
22	32	Taiga HADA	JPN	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	+1:02.980
23	10	Tommaso MARCON	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	+1:20.544
DNF	6	Cameron BEAUBIER	USA	American Racing	Kalex	1 Lap
DNF	24	Simone CORSI	ITA	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	10 Laps
DNF	75	Albert ARENAS	ESP	Inde Aspar Team	Boscoscuro	12 Laps
DNF	40	Hector GARZO	ESP	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	18 Laps
DNF	35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	20 Laps
DNF	37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	ESP	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	21 Laps
DNF	11	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	21 Laps

Race winner: 23 laps

Championship points

Pos	Rider	Nat	Pts
1	Remy GARDNER	AUS	69
2	Sam LOWES	GBR	66
3	Raul FERNANDEZ	ESP	63
4	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	56
5	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	52
6	Joe ROBERTS	USA	31
7	Aron CANET	ESP	30
8	Xavi VIERGE	ESP	26
9	Augusto FERNANDEZ	ESP	23
10	Ai OGURA	JPN	20
11	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	20
12	Celestino VIETTI	ITA	13
13	Jorge NAVARRO	ESP	13
14	Cameron BEAUBIER	USA	12
15	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	12
16	Stefano MANZI	ITA	11
17	Jake DIXON	GBR	9
18	Hector GARZO	ESP	8
19	Marcos RAMIREZ	ESP	6
20	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	6
21	Tony ARBOLINO	ITA	5
22	Albert ARENAS	ESP	4
23	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	4
24	Thomas LUTHI	SUI	1
25	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAS
26	Nicolò BULEGA	ITA
27	Yari MONTELLA	ITA
28	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA
29	Miquel PONS	ESP
30	Fraser ROGERS	GBR
31	Taiga HADA	JPN
32	Tommaso MARCON	ITA
33	Simone CORSI	ITA