Marc VDS rider Alex Marquez ended Spain’s wait for a Moto2 winner at 26 races with a dominant display under cloudy skies at the French MotoGP in Le Mans, reigniting his World Championship chances.

Starting from the second row, Marquez got off the line well, but it was Tom Luthi who took the wholeshot into the first corner and led the opening laps. Marquez took the lead on lap four and never looked like losing it.

The Spaniard was under pressure around the halfway point of the race from the unexpected Simone Corsi, however the experienced Italian lost the front end on the final corner half way through the race.

With a two second lead, Marquez measured his ride and maintained the gap to Jorge Navarro and Augusto Fernandez to take the fourth win of his Moto2 career.

Behind Marquez, Navarro and Fernandez battled for the lesser two podium spots, with the SpeedUp man coming out on top, posting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. With Fernandez settling for third position, it marks the first time that Moto2 has had an all-Spanish podium since Aragon 2013.

Both Marquez and Navarro benefited from a scary crash involving World Championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri. Early in the race, the Italian lost the front end of his Pons Kalex machine and whilst crashing collected Mattia Pasini in a scary crash which saw Pasini hitting Baldassarri. The World Championship leader was stretchered away, but escaped any serious injuries.

Brad Binder was fourth on his Red Bull KTM as he looks to recover from his awful start to the season, with Xavi Vierge one place further back in fifth.

Luthi couldn’t capitalise on his perfect start and came on in sixth, just ahead of top rookie Enea Bastianini. The injured Marcel Schrotter was eighth with Iker Lecuona and Nico Bulega rounding out the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively.