Le Mans Moto2 Race
Heading into the Dunlop chicane on the opening lap, Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) shoved his Triumph powered Kalex machine up the inside of polesitter Gonzalez to grab an early lead, while both ELF Marc VDS Racing Team riders, Jake Dixon and Filip Salač, made great starts to climb up to P3 and P4 respectively. Baltus had dropped to P5 from the front row, with his teammate Canet shuffled back to P10 from the second row.
On Lap 4, Gonzalez hit the front for the first time at Turn 9 as Baltus carved his way brilliantly to P3 to latch onto the back of Moreira.
The Belgian was then through on the Brazilian at the start of Lap 8 and set his sights on race leader Gonzalez, as Canet continued his comeback – the #44 was P4 on Lap 12 after a slick move at Turn 3 on Dixon.
A big moment coming out of Turn 4 followed though for Canet while battling Moreira. The Spaniard was pinged out of the seat but managed to stay on board, but it was crucial ground lost – he was back behind both Moreira and Dixon.
Heading into the final five laps, Gonzalez began to stretch his legs as Baltus fell over 0.5s behind for the first time in a while. That did drop back to 0.4s though so fair play to Baltus, he was making the pre-race favourite work hard for a potential 25-pointer. In the end though, Gonzalez had just enough in his back pocket to fend off Baltus for victory in Le Mans, with Baltus finishing 1.8s behind the win but 4.3s ahead of the brilliant fight for the final podium spot.
Canet, after that moment, did win that battle ahead of Moreira and Dixon, with Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) finishing P6, 0.6s ahead of Salač. Celestino Vietti (Folladore SpeedRS Team) claimed P8 ahead of top rookie Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – FRINSA – MSI), a top job from the Spaniard, while Alonso Lopez (Folladore SpeedRS Racing) rounded out the top 10.
After a Long Lap penalty, David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) crossed the line in 11th ahead of Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team), Sergio Garcia (QJMOTOR – FRINSA – MSI), Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and the final point scorer, Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing Team).
Senna Agius had started the 22-lap race from 14th position, which took place under cloudy skies but on a dry track. After a mixed start, the Australian initially lost a few places, but fought his way back to 13th place. A long lap penalty for taking a short cut in turn 9 temporarily dropped him back to 19th place. The 19-year-old showed great fighting spirit to get back into the points and take two more points home towards the British Grand Prix.
Senna Agius – P14
“A tough race! I did my best to catch up after the long lap, but I made a mistake. I didn’t give the rider who overtook me enough time to get past me again. That’s why I had to take a short cut and got a long lap penalty. After that, I just tried to score as many points as possible. Unfortunately, Le Mans was not an easy weekend. I’m pretty annoyed about how the race went for us. But I tried not to give up. We just have to stay strong and keep focusing because we are working really well. We just need to find some consistency with the feeling. So, we need to stay strong and re-start at Silverstone and hopefully have another good weekend there.”
Le Mans Moto2 Results
Moto2 Championship Standings
Le Mans Moto3 Race
Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) has brought the victory backflip back to Le Mans! Rueda spent his Michelin Grand Prix of France moving through the front group to be sitting third on the final lap as drama hit in the duel up ahead.
An aggressive attack from David Muñoz (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) on then-leader Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) saw the two make contact and head wide – leaving Rueda to sweep through for the spoils.
Muñoz was penalized for the incident and demoted to third too, putting Kelso back into second on the podium.
For Rueda, it was already a chance to gain big in the standings too as key rival Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) crashed out mid-race.
Off the line it was rookie polesitter Max Quiles (CFMoto Gaviota Aspar Team) vs Kelso for the lead, and the rookie held on for much of Lap 1 until Kelso took over in the final sector.
From there, the Australian got his head down and did much of the leg work in the lead, with the Moto3 concertina classic in full song.
Kelso, Muñoz, rookie Guido Pini (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and Rueda is what it had boiled down to after the crash for Piqueras out the chasing pack, and then there was a sudden slide out for rookie Pini.
That left a trio at the front with another rookie, Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo), on the chase – but the #83 couldn’t quite make up the gap as the laps ticked down.
Barring a couple of small mistakes, Kelso kept it near perfect at the front to hold on until the last lap, and there was no open door for Muñoz on the chase.
But Muñoz was determined to make one and went full send at the final corner complex – despite Kelso lifting up to provide room Muñoz still clattered into the Australian which sent both wide, leaving Rueda with a clear run round the final corner to the finish line.
Muñoz crossed the line second but was demoted to third for the attempted pass on Kelso, promoting the Australian back up into P2 but he still felt robbed.
Joel Kelso – P2
“I don’t want to talk about what happened in the final corner. I just want to focus on the positives, both the team and I had a great weekend. We dominated the race, and the win slipped away by the smallest margin. Thanks to everyone for the incredible support.”
Carpe took fourth just behind the podium-deciding shenanigans.
The top five was completed by David Almansa (Leopard Racing) heading the second group, ahead of Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), Quiles as he faded slightly from the podium fight, Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing), Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3), the Argentine rookie completing the top ten for home team Tech3.
Australian Jacob Roulstone started from 18th place on the grid, the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider lost two positions to P20 as he struggled to find his way through the early traffic. A few laps later as he settled more into his race pace, Jacob progressively began to move up, first gaining back the two lost positions to 18th, and then he was in 17th 0.3 seconds from Nicola Carraro after 10 laps. His pace allowed him to move past the Italian to 16th. After 15 laps, some mistakes ahead meant that Jacob found himself in the point-scoring positions, and he sat in 14th 1.5 seconds away from Dennis Foggia. The gap to the group ahead remained pretty much the same for the final laps, but Jacob benefited from a late mistake from Kiwi Cormac Buchanan ahead to cross the finish line in P13, to score 3 points.
Jacob Roulstone – P13
“Mixed feelings about this race. We are happy to earn some points as we worked back some positions from 18th on the grid. Still, we struggled in the opening laps, I was not positioning myself well enough, so I am a bit frustrated. Anyway, it is a race for learning today, and I am happy to stay one more day for tomorrow’s test, which will be really useful for myself!”
