Aspar’s Sergio Garcia claimed victory at the Moto3 FrenchGP this morning holding off race-long pressure from Filip Salac despite difficult Le Mans conditions.
Owlride’s Ricardo Rossi completed the podium celebrations after securing the fastest lap of the race on his final attempt to deny John McPhee his shot at third.
A cold and wet Bugatti circuit caused drama for the Moto3 class before the race had even lined up, with Carlos Tatay crashing out on the warm up lap as he headed to the grid. The Avintia team rushing to recover the machine and make the required changes to allow the Spaniard to compete.
The morning’s torrential rain had cleared as the start procedure got underway with the race still being declared wet due to the track conditions. Andrea Migno launched from pole thanks to his dominant and brave performance on slicks in qualifying with Rossi and Jaume Masia joining him on the front row, a determined McPhee chasing from fourth as he aimed for his first championship points of the year.
The sun shone as the lights went out with Migno taking the hole-shot before immediately losing out as he ran wide at turn two. Masia initially took control before Niccolò Antonelli swept through but the delight was short lived for the Italian as he crashed out at the final corner releasing Salac at the head of the field. Tatsuki Suzuki was the next rider to suffer as the second lap unfolded, the Sic58 rider leaving the race at turn six before Jeremy Alcoba did likewise at the following corner.
The attrition rate continued as Masia barrel rolled out at turn 14, his teammate Pedro Acosta joining the turn-three-club moments later before managing to recover his KTM, with Garcia taking charge of proceedings back on track. Salac was hot on the wheels of the GasGas with Rossi circulating third, Ayumu Sasaki and McPhee for company, as Gabriel Rodrigo became the next to fall.
Five laps complete and Salac continued to hassle Garcia out front as wildcard Takuma Matsuyama succumbed to the final corner. McPhee retained fifth position, seven-seconds off the leader with teammate Darryn Binder moving up to sixth, albeit a further 10-seconds back. The second Petronas had Xavier Artigas just three-tenths behind as the sixth lap neared it’s conclusion, the rookie having stormed through from the back of the grid after missing qualifying due to his FP3 crash.
The drying track looked to prove problematic for the leader as Garcia suffered multiple moments with 16 laps to go. Kaito Toba crashing out at turn six before attempting to rejoin at the back of the field.
Lap nine got underway with only 22 riders left on track, that was until Binder was caught out at turn three with Garcia looking strong out front. McPhee looked to be gaining ground on fourth place man, Sasaki - just four-tenths now the gap - with Acosta making a move on Migno for 11th further back. A rookie battle at the head of the second group saw Adrian Fernandez challenge Artigas for sixth, the Scot looking reasonably safe ahead with over 15-seconds to bridge for fifth.
Acosta continued to progress as he picked off Max Kofler for 10th on lap 12, one-second now separating him from Jason Dupasquier and Ryusei Yamanaka in eighth and ninth. Back at the front and Salac was increasing his pace as he looked to threaten Garcia’s lead, the Snipers rider proving successful half a lap later as his GasGas rival ran wide at turn eight. Recovering immediately the battle continued as the next lap unfold, the pair repeatedly swapping positions before Garcia once again established his dominance.
Lap 15 saw Acosta smoothly up to eighth but facing over a four-second break to the battling rookies ahead. Tatay’s disastrous day continuing as he entered the pits to retire his Esponsorama machine.
Deniz Öncü claimed the fastest lap of the race so far with seven to go, the Turkish rider circulating in 15th as he continued to push his pace on the drying track with Rossi equalling the impressive speed shortly after.
Five laps to go and the pace continued to rise as conditions improved. McPhee moved to fourth as he eyed up a podium, setting the fastest lap in the process before running wide but with enough time in hand to maintain his position. Further back and Öncü had advanced to 12th, Yamanaka, Migno, and Romano Fenati ahead, the first of which he dispatched easily next time around.
Garcia continued to respond to the pressures of the pursuing Salac, as Rossi sat five-seconds adrift in third. The final podium position remained in McPhee’s sights as the Scot circulated 2-seconds adrift but with only two laps remaining it looked a mammoth task. He answered by setting another fastest lap, however, to reel in the Italian, 0.8s the gap as the final lap began.
Garcia took the victory by 2.3 seconds from Salac with Rossi responding with the fastest lap of the race on the final lap to protect his third place position. McPhee claimed fourth at the flag from Sasaki, with Fernandez heading a trio of rookies, Artigas and Acosta taking seventh and eighth.
Öncü maintained his late-race progression to take ninth from Fenati, Migno, Yamanaka and Dupasquier with Izan Guevara and Andi Farid Izdihar claiming the final points positions. Kofler, Stefano Nepa, Dennis Foggia and Lorenzo Fellon finished 16th to 19th with Binder, Toba and Alcoba recovering from their earlier incidents to come home at the back of the pack.
