#DUTCHGP – MOTO2, Fernandez beats Ogura and Dixon in Assen cliffhanger
The Moto2™ World Championship sits on a knife edge going into the summer break after Augusto Fernandez picked up his second win in a row, at the Motul TT Assen. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider has moved into a share of the points lead with Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), who finished fourth at the TT Circuit Assen. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) sits just a point further back after somehow staying on his bike and hauling his way back from as low as 16th to claim second on the day, with pole-sitter Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) completing the podium.
Lopez jumps to the front
It was as you were when the race got underway as far as the top two was concerned, with Dixon leading Inde GASGAS Aspar team-mate Albert Arenas into the first corner. Alonso Lopez (MB Conveyers Speed Up), however, had launched well from fifth on the grid before passing Arenas for second at De Strubben and then Dixon for first at Stekkenwal. Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) moved into third when he passed Arenas at the Geert Timmer Chicane on Lap 4, in what was something of a breakaway quartet at the head of the field.
However, Fernandez reeled them in and he gladly took fourth position when Arenas made a small error at De Strubben on Lap 5. Then, just up the road at De Bult, Schrötter picked off Dixon to move into second position and Arenas got back ahead of Fernandez, as home hero Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) lurked in sixth spot.
Schrötter takes the lead before striking disaster
Arenas got back into the podium places when he overtook Dixon at the Timmer Chicane on Lap 7, before Schrötter hit the front for the first time when he got past Lopez as they ran down the back straight on Lap 8. Fernandez passed Dixon for fourth at De Strubben on Lap 9, before Lopez ceded second position to Arenas and third to Fernandez on a ragged 10th lap of the race.
Schrötter looked like he might finally break through for his first Grand Prix victory until disaster struck for the German on Lap 12, when he crashed out at De Strubben and handed the lead to Arenas. On Lap 13, Lopez re-passed Fernandez at the Timmer Chicane, but the German GP winner prised second position back from the man on the Boscoscuro chassis at De Strubben on Lap 15.
The Championship contenders fight back as Fernandez moves into top spot
Meanwhile, Vietti and Ogura, who started the race as the top two in the Championship, were closing in on the lead group as they battled over eighth position. Both were on a comeback after tough starts to the race, Vietti having only qualified 11th before finding himself even further away from the top 10 in the opening corners, and Ogura having two big rear end moments within the first handful of laps which had dumped the Japanese rider as far back as 16th.
Lopez dropped three positions to sixth when he ran wide exiting Haarbocht on Lap 16, promoting Dixon to the podium places again, as Vietti received a track limits warning. What would turn out to be the decisive lead change came on Lap 17 when Fernandez went underneath Arenas at De Strubben, while Bendsneyder sent the Dutch crowd wild when he passed Dixon for third just behind them. Unfortunately for the man from Rotterdam, he undid his good work with a slow run off the Timmer Chicane at the end of the lap. He was picked off by not only Dixon, but also Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), who got ahead of both of them.
Dixon re-passed Beaubier moments later at De Strubben, and signalled to the American that they should work together to catch the top two of Fernandez and Arenas, who had taken advantage of the battle for third place to skip several tenths of a second clear. They did just that, as Ogura moved into the top five with a pass on Bendsneyder at the start of Lap 19, which opened the door for Vietti to follow him through.
Fernandez seals victory and Ogura takes an improbable podium
Ogura’s progress continued when he got through on Beaubier at De Strubben on Lap 20, while Dixon took second place from Arenas at the Timmer Chicane on that same lap. At the start of Lap 21, Beaubier crashed out of fifth position as he came under big pressure from Vietti, and Ogura was into the top three – 13 positions higher than he had been when he nearly got chucked off his bike for the second time – by passing Arenas.
The Japanese rider went down the inside of Dixon for second position as they turned into Haarbocht on Lap 22, and Arenas got back in front of the Briton at the Timmer Chicane. Dixon got him back at the start of Lap 23, the penultimate tour of Assen, and Arenas was out of the race altogether when he dropped it at De Bult. That crash promoted Vietti to fourth, behind a top three of Fernandez, Ogura, and Dixon, and that is how they would finish – all within a second of each other – after an astonishing Dutch GP for the Moto2™ field.
How the rest finished
Bendsneyder claimed fifth on home soil and Lopez, who had started to become somewhat ragged, got home in sixth, ahead of Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team), Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team), and Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™). Also in the points, from 11th onwards, were Fermin Aldeguer (MB Conveyors Speed Up), Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40), Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Jeremy Alcoba (Liwui Moly Intact GP), and Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP). Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) was a notable among the non-finishers, throwing away third when he ran well wide at the first corner of the race, then crashing out altogether on only Lap 4.
Top 10:
1. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
2. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 0.660
3. Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.725
4. Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.758
5. Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) + 1.485
6. Alonso Lopez (MB Conveyors Speed Up) + 5.417
7. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 5.553
8. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) + 7.396
9. Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) + 7.589
10. Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2) + 7.691
“”It was a different race to what we are used to, with a group and a lot of overtaking. I had a great time. It was difficult to manage the race, because we all had a very similar pace. I waited for my moment, trying to understand everybody’s pace. When I took the lead, I concentrated on not making mistakes, I managed to get a few metres ahead – enough to get the victory. I’m very happy. Thanks to the team for the great work they have done this weekend.”.
Augusto Fernandez P1
“I suffered a lot in the race. In two corners I could not bend the bike due to the pain in my shoulder and it was impossible to keep up with the pace. This one month break will be very important to me. We look forward with the aim of getting back in shape to achieve the results we had set for ourselves “.
Lorenzo dalla Porta P16
“It was a complicated weekend, we tried to try different adjustments, although unfortunately since Friday we suffered constant vibrations. This first part of the championship for us has been quite uphill. In any case we do not stop believing, we think positive and during the break we will work to improve in the second part of the season.”
Simone Corsi P20
“A complicated race that ended with a crash right at the end when I was able to recover some positions and I was starting to feel good sensations. A real shame not being able to close the first part of the season with the plus sign. Let’s face this break in the best possible way and get back to work in a few weeks to close the gap and find the feeling I’m looking for driving.”
Niccolò Antonelli NC
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #KytCrew during the weekend in Assen.