GARDNER TAKES FIRST MOTO2 VICTORY

Remy Gardner takes first Moto2 victory – Photo: LAT

In the final race of the 2020 Moto2 World Championship in Portugal, Australian Remy Gardner converted his third career pole into his maiden race victory.

By DAN McCARTHY

It was not plain sailing for the Australian who found himself in third position behind championship contenders Luca Marini and Sam Lowes at the halfway point.

In the second half of the race Gardner could not be matched, he slid by Lowes at Turn 3 with 11 laps remaining before quickly catching and repassing Marini on the penultimate lap to take that elusive first victory.

The Australian held the lead in the first several laps of the race but fell behind Marini and Lowes on lap 8.

The resurgent ride was impressive and despite only taking the lead on the penultimate lap, Gardner took the win by 1.609s.

“Honestly I’ve got no words,” Gardner said after the race.” “My first win, (I was) a bit emotional on the cooldown lap!”

“In those last couple of laps I saw that I had the pace, I sat behind Luca for a few laps and in the last two laps I passed him, pulled the pin and pulled out the gap, I’m lost for words.”

Gardner was determined coming into the final race of the season to end it on a high, and felt the victory was on the cards.

“We’ve been strong here all weekend,” he said. “You know I thought I could win, I came in thinking it’s the last race, I’ve got nothing to lose and we did it.

“We worked so hard as a team, all the weak points (in setup) we straightened out over the weekend and even in the race I was still adapting to my style from Luca.”

It was Gardner’s final race with the Malaysian ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team in which he has achieved a total of five podiums including the victory over the two-year partnership.

Despite missing two of the 14 races due to injury, Gardner did enough to finish the Moto2 Championship in sixth position, before he moves to the Red Bull KTM Ajo squad in 2021.

Further back Enea Bastianini did just enough by finishing in fifth position to take the Moto2 World Championship before he graduates into MotoGP next season.

Gardner, Marini and Lowes locked out the top three positions ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, Bastianini, Jorge Martin Joe Roberts, Augusto Fernandez, Lorenzo Baldassarri, and Xavi Vierge.

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