KTM Ajo takes a one-two as the World Championship battle tightens right up
Augusto Fernandez has dominated the Moto2™ Race at the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland while Pedro Costa made it a Red Bull KTM Ajo one-two after a thrilling, four-rider battle for the minor placings. Fernandez hit the front on Lap 6 at the Sachsenring and led by as much as nine seconds before he eased off on the 28th and final lap. Pole-sitter Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) passed Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) on the penultimate tour to snare the final podium place while World Championship leader Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) failed to score points after crashing out of 11th position.
Lowes converts pole into the lead
Lowes was looking to end a run of five straight zeroes outs after he qualified on pole, and the Briton duly converted that starting berth into the early lead. German Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) came from fifth on the grid to emerge in second position in the opening corners of his home race, ahead of Fernandez, Albert Arenas (GASGAS Aspar Team), and Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team). Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40), however, had dropped from sixth to 12th and Vietti from eighth to 10th.
Acosta moved into the top five when he got by Roberts on Lap 3 at Turn 1 and, after it looked like Lowes and Schrötter might break away from the pack, Fernandez took matters into his own hands. For three laps in a row, he seized a position by taking the tight line through Turn 3, getting Arenas on Lap 4, Schrötter on Lap 5, and then Lowes for the lead on Lap 6.
Near the end of that sixth lap, Acosta went underneath Arenas for fourth spot at Turn 12, and he was into the podium places at the end of Lap 7 after Schrötter had a big rear end moment as he opened the throttle exiting Turn 13. The German briefly dropped to fifth due to the near-crash but he reclaimed one of those positions when he outbraked Arenas as they arrived at Turn 1 again, and kept himself in contention for a rostrum finish.
Fernandez, who had been quickest in Friday Free Practice, was wasting no time in pressing home his advantage at the front of the field. He galloped to a one-second lead on Lap 8, and had doubled that in just three laps more. Lowes continued to run in second spot and Acosta in third, as Schrötter…