Fernandez Wins Austrian GP, Luthi's Best Finish For Mandalika SAG

JAKARTA - Red Bull KTM team rookie Ajo Raul Fernandez picked up his fourth win of the season at the Austrian Moto2 Grand Prix on Sunday, August 19, to cut his distance from the top of the standings still held by team mate Remy Gardner.

Fernandez started his 11th race on the calendar from P2 and stole the lead from pole sitter Sam Lowes of the Marc VDS team early in the race.

At the forefront, the Spaniard, who will advance to MotoGP next year with the Tech3 KTM team, was not overtaken by his opponents in the 25-lap race to cross the finish line in 0.845 seconds from Idemitsu Honda Team Asia rookie Ai Ogura who won his first podium in the intermediate class.

Augusto Fernandez completed the podium in third place for the third time in a row, while his team mate Lowes had to settle for finishing P4, according to the official MotoGP website.

Somkiat Chantra added to the excitement of the Idemitsu Honda team after taking home valuable points in P5 when SKY Racing Team VR46 driver Celestino Vietto dropped to P6 due to a track limit penalty.

Remy Garnder is still at the top of the table, now on 206 points after finishing P7 that day.

Fernandez still looms over his team-mate, as well as his potential MotoGP tandem on the same team, in second place with a 19-point gap heading into the 12th race at Silverstone two weeks later.

Meanwhile, veteran Swiss rider Thomas Luthi presented his best finish of the season for the Pertamina Mandalika SAG team after starting from P10 and moving up one place to P9 after finishing, defeating last week's Styria GP champion Marco Bezzecchi who had to settle for completing the top ten and staying in the rankings. three standings with 159 points.

Luthi is currently 23rd in the standings with 11 points, while his team-mate Bo Bendsneyder has not added to his 39-point collection after finishing two positions outside the points zone, according to the official MotoGP website. This was reported by Antara.