Sam Lowes scored his first Moto2 win since Qatar as he passed Aron Canet late on, while Raul Fernandez’s title hopes took a hit as he crashed from the lead.
Lowes held the lead off the start but soon came under pressure from Aspar’s Canet in the opening couple of laps, the Brit dropping behind half-way round the opening tour before Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro knocked him back a further position a couple laps later.
Lowes held firm in third across the next several circulations before re-gaining the lead thanks to a messy move by Canet on Navarro, the former having taken the leader a couple bends earlier before Canet ran wide while trying to re-pay the favour.
Lowes then began to stretch away out in front, though he would soon come under attack once again-though this time by a recovering Fernandez who had managed to make his way up from ninth to second, before starting to gain on the leading Marc VDS machine.
A couple of minor errors allowed the Spaniard to catch up, though it wouldn’t be until just past half-distance when Fernandez finally made the move for the lead, the Ajo rookie set to take the series lead from team-mate Remy Gardner as he struggled to make his way through the pack.
His time out in front wasn’t destined to last though as just a lap later he tucked the front of his Kalex into Turn 8, his bike barrel-rolling through the gravel and leaving him no option but to retire-handing the initiative back to Lowes.
A mistake from the double-Qatar victor allowed a chasing Canet to take the lead briefly, though late tyre trouble from Canet allowed Lowes to catch back up and take the lead once and for all with a few laps remaining, leaving the now second-placed ace to try and hang on ahead of the second Marc VDS entry.
Augusto Fernandez had to fight his way through after serving a long-lap punishment he picked up for a qualifying infringement early on, dropping him from fourth to 14th.
He posted fastest lap after fastest lap as he carved his way back towards the front until he reached the podium by passing VR46’s Celestino Vietti with just over a lap remaining, though is pace differential over Canet meant he had a chance to score Marc VDS’ first 1-2 of the year.
Lowes ultimately took the chequered flag for his third win of the season 1.2 seconds clear of the fight for the runners-up position, with Fernandez flying past Canet at the final bend after his tyre struggles proved a little too much to hold back his countryman, though he would at least hang onto the final podium place.
Vietti took fourth ahead of Navarro, while Stefano Manzi enjoyed his strongest run of the year so far with sixth for Pons Racing.
Gardner was forced to make do with seventh after picking up a long-lap penalty for taking out Somkiat Chantra early on, though with his team-mate not scoring he actually increased his nine-point series lead to 18 with two rounds left.
Fabio Di Gianantonio staged a late fight-back to grab eighth ahead of Honda Team Asia’s Ai Ogura, with Marcos Ramirez completing the top ten for American Racing.
Marco Bezzecchi looked set to join team-mate Vietti well within the top ten despite starting 24th, though a late crash while running just ahead of Gardner in seventh meant he would leave Misano empty handed.
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