Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Remy Gardner has taken a big win, both in terms of the margin and the Moto2 championship implications, at Germany’s Sachsenring.
Gardner and team-mate Raul Fernandez, his nearest rival for the title, broke away from the field almost as soon as the race got underway.
Fernandez had led when the lights went out but ceded the lead to #87 on Lap 2 at Turn 12.
The Spaniard still stuck with his more experienced team-mate until he crashed out just over four laps into the contest, at Turn 3, and that was effectively the end of the story.
The tumble handed Gardner a lead of almost five seconds back to Aron Canet, and it was from there that the Sydney native seemed to cruise to his third consecutive race win.
He was 5.3s to the good at the end of Lap 10, stretched that to 7.0s on Lap 22, and held much the same margin at the start of the final lap.
Officially, #87’s magnitude of victory was 6.158s after 28 laps, but more important is the fact that his lead over Fernandez in the world championship has blown out to 36 points.
Canet took a lonely second position, having made smart progress from 10th on the grid to be best of the rest around the time that Fernandez went down.
There was, however, a scare for the Aspar rider given the rate at which Marco Bezzecchi (Sky VR46) was closing the gap in the final few laps.
Bezzecchi was 2.7s adrift once he had finally shaken Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini) with 10 laps remaining, but was less than 0.9s back at the chequered flag.
Di Giannantonio finished fourth and Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS) rounded out the top five.
Lowes had started the final lap in eighth position but Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta) and then Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) crashed ahead of him, before he passed Marcel Schrotter (Liqui-Moly Intact GP).
The latter therefore took sixth, ahead of Jorge Navarro, Albert Arenas, Marcos Ramirez, and Cameron Beaubier.
Round 9 is the Dutch TT, at Assen, next weekend (June 25-27).
Race results: German Moto2 Grand Prix
| Pos | Num | Rider | Nat | Team | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 87 | Remy GARDNER | AUS | Red Bull KTM Ajo | Kalex | 39:39.191 |
| 2 | 44 | Aron CANET | ESP | Aspar Team Moto2 | Boscoscuro | +6.158 |
| 3 | 72 | Marco BEZZECCHI | ITA | SKY Racing Team VR46 | Kalex | +7.030 |
| 4 | 21 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | ITA | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex | +8.145 |
| 5 | 22 | Sam LOWES | GBR | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | Kalex | +9.888 |
| 6 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | GER | Liqui Moly Intact GP | Kalex | +10.000 |
| 7 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | ESP | +EGO Speed Up | Boscoscuro | +16.039 |
| 8 | 75 | Albert ARENAS | ESP | Aspar Team Moto2 | Boscoscuro | +19.394 |
| 9 | 42 | Marcos RAMIREZ | ESP | American Racing | Kalex | +21.718 |
| 10 | 6 | Cameron BEAUBIER | USA | American Racing | Kalex | +26.393 |
| 11 | 11 | Nicolò BULEGA | ITA | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex | +26.732 |
| 12 | 2 | Alonso LOPEZ | ESP | Flexbox HP40 | Kalex | +26.835 |
| 13 | 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NED | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | Kalex | +28.034 |
| 14 | 70 | Barry BALTUS | BEL | NTS RW Racing GP | NTS | +28.984 |
| 15 | 13 | Celestino VIETTI | ITA | SKY Racing Team VR46 | Kalex | +31.414 |
| 16 | 14 | Tony ARBOLINO | ITA | Liqui Moly Intact GP | Kalex | +33.176 |
| 17 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | MAS | NTS RW Racing GP | NTS | +33.425 |
| 18 | 35 | Somkiat CHANTRA | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | +39.638 |
| 19 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | SUI | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | Kalex | +39.682 |
| 20 | 62 | Stefano MANZI | ITA | Flexbox HP40 | Kalex | +44.613 |
| 21 | 96 | Jake DIXON | GBR | Petronas Sprinta Racing | Kalex | +47.416 |
| DNF | 79 | Ai OGURA | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 97 | Xavi VIERGE | ESP | Petronas Sprinta Racing | Kalex | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 16 | Joe ROBERTS | USA | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 19 | Lorenzo DALLA PORTA | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 14 Laps |
| DNF | 37 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | ESP | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | Kalex | 22 Laps |
| DNF | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | ITA | MV Agusta Forward Racing | MV Agusta | 22 Laps |
| DNF | 25 | Raul FERNANDEZ | ESP | Red Bull KTM Ajo | Kalex | 24 Laps |
| DNF | 54 | Fermín ALDEGUER | ESP | +EGO Speed Up | Boscoscuro | 25 Laps |
| DNF | 24 | Simone CORSI | ITA | MV Agusta Forward Racing | MV Agusta | 0 Lap |
Race winner: 28 laps
Championship points
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Pts |
| 1 | Remy GARDNER | AUS | 164 |
| 2 | Raul FERNANDEZ | ESP | 128 |
| 3 | Marco BEZZECCHI | ITA | 117 |
| 4 | Sam LOWES | GBR | 86 |
| 5 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | ITA | 73 |
| 6 | Marcel SCHROTTER | GER | 59 |
| 7 | Aron CANET | ESP | 55 |
| 8 | Joe ROBERTS | USA | 50 |
| 9 | Xavi VIERGE | ESP | 42 |
| 10 | Ai OGURA | JPN | 39 |
| 11 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NED | 38 |
| 12 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | ESP | 34 |
| 13 | Jorge NAVARRO | ESP | 33 |
| 14 | Tony ARBOLINO | ITA | 30 |
| 15 | Cameron BEAUBIER | USA | 26 |
| 16 | Albert ARENAS | ESP | 18 |
| 17 | Stefano MANZI | ITA | 17 |
| 18 | Celestino VIETTI | ITA | 16 |
| 19 | Marcos RAMIREZ | ESP | 16 |
| 20 | Jake DIXON | GBR | 11 |
| 21 | Hector GARZO | ESP | 11 |
| 22 | Somkiat CHANTRA | THA | 11 |
| 23 | Nicolò BULEGA | ITA | 10 |
| 24 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | MAS | 8 |
| 25 | Simone CORSI | ITA | 7 |
| 26 | Lorenzo DALLA PORTA | ITA | 6 |
| 27 | Alonso LOPEZ | ESP | 4 |
| 28 | Fermín ALDEGUER | ESP | 4 |
| 29 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | ITA | 3 |
| 30 | Barry BALTUS | BEL | 2 |
| 31 | Thomas LUTHI | SUI | 2 |
| 32 | Yari MONTELLA | ITA | |
| 33 | Tommaso MARCON | ITA | |
| 34 | Miquel PONS | ESP | |
| 35 | Fraser ROGERS | GBR | |
| 36 | Taiga HADA | JPN | |
| 37 | Piotr BIESIEKIRSKI | POL | |
| 38 | Keminth KUBO | THA |
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