MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

If the lightweight class race was uncharacteristically calm, the intermediate class decided to start off with a bang or two, including a red flag and drama for the poleman. However, Tony Arbolino expertly navigated all of that to put his name in the record books as the Moto2 winner of the 1000th GP. Filip Salac tried to have a say in that but never got an opportunity to attack and settled for second, equalling his best result in the class. Alonso Lopez took third, becoming a familiar sight on the podium so far this season. 

Expectations were high for Sam Lowes, coming off a perfect weekend in Jerez and a pretty perfect Saturday at Le Mans but despite a good initial start from pole position, Arbolino and Lopez were quick to steal the Brit’s limelight. While Arbolino went on to extend a one second advantage at the front over the first two laps, Lowes lost control at turn two and slid into the gravel. However, this was followed by a big crash at La Chapelle, where Albert Arenas losing the front caused havoc for Manuel Gonzalez and Aron Canet and brought out the red flag while the medical team helped out Canet. 

A new 14-lap race soon resumed from original grid positions but with Lowes starting from the back of the grid after missing pitlane closing by a couple of seconds, his team doing an impressive job to fix his machine and allow him to rejoin the action. Once again, it was Arbolino getting the holeshot over Lopez into turn one, closely followed by Pedro Acosta, Salac, Celestino Vietti and a fast-starting Fermin Aldeguer shooting up to sixth. Jake Dixon, Somkiat Chantra, Barry Baltus and Lukas Tulovic made up the early top 10, while Lowes recovered a couple of positions to 24th on the opening lap. 

It was a bit of a déjà vu at the front, Arbolino quickly extending a one second advantage, helped by Acosta and Lopez trading places and a big moment for Acosta at turn six. But once Acosta settled in second, he was steadily reeling in the leader, while dropping Lopez into Salac’s clutches. Almost two seconds behind, Vietti was in the lead of a sizeable pursuit by lap four.  

Arbolino was forced to pick up the pace to halt Acosta’s progress, but he needn’t have worried, as Acosta threw it away in a tumble at turn seven, leaving the Italian with a healthy lead of almost two seconds on lap five. Salac was now his main rival, having overtaken Lopez at turn six and the Czech rider became a real threat only one lap later, helped by Arbolino going wide at Garage Vert and allowing him to get within half a second. Lopez wasn’t too far back either, while Vietti was maintaining the two second gap to the podium battle, joined by Chantra. Dixon lost another second on the duo but was left to go about his business and recover that gap once Aldeguer served a long lap penalty on lap nine and gave him some breathing room. 

By lap 10, the leading trio was back together but Arbolino was yet to be challenged at the front, as Salac could not find a gap and Lopez looked like he was just about hanging onto the duo but unable to go any quicker. Arbolino started the final lap with only three tenths’ advantage but managed the gap to the chequered flag and forced Salac to settle for second. Lopez secured the final podium position, while Vietti got within seven tenths of the podium in the final couple of laps and took a solid fourth place. Dixon caught up with Chantra with two laps remaining to claim fifth, with Baltus taking seventh place ahead of Aldeguer, who did well to recover a couple of positions to eighth after serving his penalty. That left Ai Ogura and Sergio Garcia rounding out the top 10, while Lowes took the final point scoring position on the final lap. 

Arbolino leaves France with an advantage of 25 points in the world championship over Acosta, with Lopez 38 points back and Salac 39. The unfortunate Canet was not able to take the restart and drops a couple of places to fifth, with a 47-point deficit. 

Results: