Fabio DiGiannantonio thought he had snatched his maiden Moto3 win at Le Mans after mugging Jorge Martin on the last lap but a three-second penalty handed down by race control saw Albert Arenas take the win in France.
DiGiannantonio was on course for his first-ever victory but a track-cut at turn nine meant ended up in fifth and Arenas was promoted to his maiden win in the class, having a previous best of eighth place.
It also meant Marcos Ramirez was promoted to the podium for the second race in a row after a last-corner highside from Marco Bezzecchi in second left poleman Jorge Martin with nowhere to go and the pair crashed out, which gave Andrea Migno second place.
The incidents throw the title chase wide open as Aron Canet, who started dead last after his Jerez antics, managed to take eighth place and is now in third but Bezzecchi, amazingly, still heads the series by four points from DiGiannantonio.
Enea Bastiannini fell out of third on the penultimate lap for his third DNF and Jakub Kornfeil hit the side of his prone machine, literally jumped into the gravel tap and made it out the other side to take sixth. Nico Antonelli, who was also handed a penalty for cutting the track at Dunlop, ended in fifth.
Scotland’s John McPhee ended his race in 12th.
