Augusto Fernandez flew to a second Moto2 success of 2022 by a nearly eight seconds after dominating the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring as Celestino Vietti crashed out.
Fernandez slipped to fourth after starting third in the early few laps, though the Spaniard quickly stamped his authority on the encounter after passing all three riders in front of him at Turn 3 – the Ajo KTM racer moving clear at the front just half-a-dozen laps into the event after overtaking pole-man Sam Lowes.
From this point onwards Fernandez sprinted clear, the 24 year-old rider building up an advantage as high as 9.5 seconds at its peak as he lapped in a league of his own, leaving him to eventually cruise across the finish line a distant 7.7 seconds up the road from the thrilling tussle for best of the rest.
Pedro Acosta made up good ground early on after reaching the top five despite starting 11th only a few laps in, the reigning Moto3 world champion eventually making it to second after Lowes ran wide at Turn 3 at around mid-distance.
The Brit looked to regroup in the closing stanza though after looking after his rubber well, Lowes crawling all over the rear of Acosta as he began to struggle with his own tyres.
Lowes briefly moved clear of Acosta before the Ajo man quickly re-took the place, the Marc VDS man forced to make up significant ground after being passed by home hero Marcel Schrotter at the start of the final lap.
Having gotten the better of Schrotter, Lowes launched onto the rear of Acosta and looked to dive through at the final bend, though he locked wheels with the Spaniard and was forced to roll off – thus gifting Acosta the time needed to secure the runners-up spot with Lowes taking his first podium finish since the opening race of the year in Qatar.
Schrotter was forced to settle for fourth ahead of a charging Fermin Aldeguer who completed the top five, while GasGas pilot Albert Arenas grabbed sixth.
Alonso Lopez completed a strong outing for the Speed Up squad as he took seventh ahead of title contender Ai Ogura, who closes to within eight points of Celestino Vietti after the Italian crashed in the closing stages.
The VR46 man struggled for speed throughout the race and looked set to finish outside the top ten anyway, the three-time 2022 winner losing the front of his machine while attempting to move clear of Manuel Gonzalez at Turn 1 with only several laps remaining – leaving him to record his third DNF of the year so far.
Elsewhere Aron Canet ended up ninth after pressuring Ogura in the closing tours, while the sister Marc VDS entry of Tony Arbolino rounded off the top ten.
Fernandez’s success means he closes to just 12 points adrift of Vietti in the rider’s standings heading to Assen next weekend, with Canet also within 20 markers of the series leader as the summer break looms.
