What a high-level race and again with a lot of uncertainty in Moto3 at this French GP. The winner? David Alonso, who thus achieved his third victory of the year.
David Alonso was the author of the pole position and had in the front row the company of Daniel Holgado and José Antonio Rueda.
And at the start of the rookie class race, Alonso had a good start but Holgado overtook him seconds later, with David Muñoz being the star of the first lap by going from eighth place to second quickly. Filippo Farioli was the first to abandon the race after one lap, while Adrian Fernández and Joshua Whatley received a warning that they had a double Long Lap penalty.
Angel Piqueras was the fastest on track with three laps and rose to fourth place, in a race still led by Holgado, with Muñoz in second and Collin Veijer in third.
Fastest lap & up to 4th! 📈
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Watch out for @angelpiqueras18! 💪#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/G0f4qINXdS
Veijer meanwhile ascended to second place in the race and positioned himself 0.146s behind Holgado, with Muñoz in turn being 0.294s behind the leader. Riccardo Rossi was also on the rise, as he briefly passed Muñoz and reached third place, but then ran slightly wide, tried to regain his line, was touched, and fell at turn 11.
Holgado lost the lead in the race to Veijer, leading to an intense battle with Muñoz, and a penalty possibly looming due to the incident with Rossi.
Shortly after, Muñoz was penalized with two Long Lap Penalties for irresponsible riding because of what happened, and seconds later Holgado returned to the lead of the race in Le Mans!
This was the top ten with the race halfway through:
After serving the first Long Lap Penalty, Muñoz dropped from the lead to 17th, with Scott Ogden crashing and retiring from the race.
Holgado and Veijer once again exchanged positions, with #95 leading. With seven laps to go, the gap between first and third (Alonso) was 0.365s. Holgado was second, 0.090s behind.
Another rider appearing among the front runners was Joel Esteban, who reached fifth place and positioned himself very well as a potential winner. Everything was still open in Le Mans.
E Muñoz? O seu dia foi de mau a pior, com o espanhol da BOE Motorsports a cair, ainda que voltasse para já à corrida. Matteo Bertelle abandonou também a corrida mas devido a um problema com a sua moto.
Quatro voltas para o final e Holgado voltou uma vez mais à dianteira da corrida, com Veijer em segundo, Alonso em terceiro, Ivan Ortolá em quarto e Esteban em quinto.
O GP aproximava-se rapidamente do final, já com Muñoz efetivamente de fora e com Veijer uma vez mais a passar para a frente da corrida mas tudo estava a mudar rapidamente, e o #95 foi de primeiro para terceiro, com Alonso a chegar a segundo, atrás de Holgado. Duas voltas para o final!
À entrada da última volta Alonso passou para a frente com 0.101s sobre Holgado, Veijer estava a 0.214s. Seguiu-se um momento intenso com Holgado a colocar-se ao lado de Alonso e com os dois a tocarem-se.
A corrida terminou logo depois com Alonso a confirmar a vitória, com Holgado em segundo e a segurar a liderança no campeonato, enquanto Veijer foi terceiro.
