Portimao Moto2: Bastianini champion, Gardner gets first win

Italtrans rider Bastianini, Marc VDS man Sam Lowes and VR46 pair Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi came into the final round covered by 23 points, and fifth was enough to give MotoGP-bound Bastianini the crown by nine points over second-place finisher Marini.

It was Marini who got the holeshot from second on the grid, but he lost the lead when he selected neutral at Turn 3, allowing Gardner and Bastianini to move through.

Gardner’s early charge led to him opening up his gap to over a second after a handful of laps, while the injured Lowes worked his way past Marini on lap four to move into second.

Meanwhile, Bastianini was slipping down the order behind the likes of Bezzecchi, Lowes’ Marc VDS teammate Augusto Fernandez and Ajo KTM’s Jorge Martin.

Gardner’s lead would be wiped out by lap eight, with Marini and Lowes moving ahead into Turn 1, and the VR46 rider went on to open up a lead of 1.2s out front.

Gardner overhauled Lowes on lap 13 into the first corner after the Briton made a mistake a few corners earlier as he seemingly began to struggle with his injured wrist.

Marini would start to come under pressure from Gardner in the latter stages, while Lowes somehow rallied to keep the pair ahead in sight.

Bastianini continued to fight Fernandez over fifth spot and came under immense pressure in the latter stages as Martin, Fernandez and American Racing’s Joe Roberts closed up to him.

Gardner got on terms with Marini by lap 16 and pulled off his decisive overtake on the inside of Turn 3, with the SAG rider pulling clear by a second to claim the first grand prix win for his family since his father Wayne's win at the 500cc British GP in 1992.

Marini did all he could to keep his title hopes alive, but the Valentino Rossi protégé – who will partner Bastianini at the Avintia Ducati squad in MotoGP next year – would have still fallen short of the title even if he had beaten Gardner to the win.

Lowes’ heroic effort concluded with him securing the final step of the podium and third in the standings equal on points with Marini, with Bezzecchi ultimately ending up 21 points adrift of Bastianini after finishing the race fourth.

Bastianini held off Martin in fifth, with Roberts, Fernandez, Pons rider Lorenzo Baldassarri and Petronas Sprinta’s Xavi Vierge rounding out the top 10. 

Race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	87	Remy Gardner	Kalex	23
2	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	23	1.609
3	22	Sam Lowes	Kalex	23	3.813
4	72	Marco Bezzecchi	Kalex	23	8.437
5	33	Enea Bastianini	Kalex	23	8.646
6	88	Jorge Martin	Kalex	23	8.899
7	16	Joe Roberts	Kalex	23	8.956
8	37	Augusto Fernandez	Kalex	23	9.568
9	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	23	10.367
10	97	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	23	11.084
11	42	Marcos Ramirez	Kalex	23	11.199
12	23	Marcel Schrotter	Kalex	23	16.864
13	64	Bo Bendsneyder	NTS	23	16.998
14	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	23	18.550
15	44	Arón Canet	Speed Up	23	20.169
16	12	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	23	22.918
17	19	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Kalex	23	27.141
18	35	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex	23	27.303
19	62	Stefano Manzi	MV Agusta	23	27.340
20	77	Dominique Aegerter	NTS	23	44.924
21	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Speed Up	23	51.163
	24	Simone Corsi	MV Agusta	20	3 Laps
	27	Andi Gilang	Kalex	17	6 Laps
	57	Edgar Pons	Kalex	12	11 Laps
	99	Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin	Kalex	10	13 Laps
	9	Jorge Navarro	Speed Up	5	18 Laps
	40	Hector Garzo	Kalex	5	18 Laps
	21	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Speed Up	0
	11	Nicolo Bulega	Kalex	0
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