Sam Lowes scored a second consecutive victory in the Aragon GP this afternoon after a race-long battle with Marco Bezzecchi ended prematurely after the Sky rider crashed out at turn two on the penultimate lap.
An early exit for Luca Marini meant that Enea Bastianini took control of the title-fight with a second place finish as Jorge Martin rounded out the podium, in third. There were further celebrations for Jake Dixon as the Petronas rookie rode a strong but solitary race to finish a career-best fourth.
Perfect conditions greeted the Moto2 racers as round 11 got underway at Motorland with clear blue skies and 27℃ track temperatures. Lowes launched from the pole position but it was Bezzecchi who got the early advantage, leading into turn one as a mid-pack incident saw Jorge Navarro skittled out of the race before it even got going after making contact with the rear-wheel of Marcos Ramirez.
Contact between the two Brits as the second lap began also saw Lowes drop to third, Dixon fifth, before the Marc VDS man regrouped and set his sights on second, besting Fabio Di Giannantonio for the position moments later.
Further back and Dixon had Martin ahead, Marini behind as the trio battled to maintain their hold on the group in front, the VR64 rider distraught as he lost the front of his Sky machine heading into turn 14, blowing the championship wide open as his teammate continued to pull a determined lead, now half a second clear of Lowes.
Six laps in and the top-six had settled into a comfortable but commanding rhythm, Remy Gardner sitting over two seconds behind in seventh with just Ramirez for company as the pair held a 1.6s advantage over Joe Roberts in ninth. The end of the back straight saw Enea Bastianini make a move on Dixon for fifth with 15 laps to go as Di Giannantonio dispatched Lowes for second on the following revolution.
The Italian then took his chance for the lead at turn 14 with 12 laps to go before disaster struck on turn two as the next lap began, the Speed Up sliding out of contention after an impressive run throughout the Aragon weekend and leaving Bezzecchi and Lowes to fight it out for both the race and championship lead.
The mid-pack action saw Hector Garzo slicing his way up the standings as he advanced on Gardner for sixth position with the two American racing teammates battling behind for eighth, Ramirez holding the advantage as lap 16 began.
The fight for the final podium place, meanwhile, saw Bastianini briefly win out over Martin but the KTM rider was having none of it, sliding back into third with six laps to go as the pair continued to swap positions as the race counted down.
Three laps left and Bezzecchi remained in charge, having pulled a 0.6 gap on the pursuing Englishman, Bastianini winning out in the battle for third, just 0.2 ahead of the Martin while Dixon enjoyed a somewhat lonely race, four seconds adrift in fifth.
The drama wasn’t done, however, as turn two caught out another victim, Bezzecchi falling as the penultimate lap began and gifting the lead to Lowes as Martin took advantage to steal second from the Italtrans machine but with half a lap to go, Bastianini saw his chance for second, the promotion moving the Italian into the overall championship lead.
Lowes crossed the line for his second consecutive victory, now just two points behind in the title-fight as Bastianini came home in second with Martin joining the pair for the podium celebrations, in third. A delighted Dixon scored his best-ever finish in fourth ahead of the battling trio of Gardner, Ramirez and Garzo with Roberts taking eighth at the flag. Tetsuta Nagashima and Simone Corsi rounded out the top-10 ahead of a determined but suffering Augusto Fernandez - severe arm pump hampering the Spaniard’s performance over the past two weekends - as Thomas Luthi, Edgar Pons, Stefano Manzi and Marcel Schrotter took the final points.
