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: 

The intermediate class got a sunny welcome back on track after the damp start on Saturday morning and it was a familiar sight having Sam Lowes back in parc fermé to celebrate pole position. The British rider was slow to get going, not helped by some early yellow flags, but he quickly regrouped to lead the way and secure pole position by two tenths of a second. Alonso Lopez was one of the early leaders of Q2 and eventually made his way back into second on the grid, while Tony Arbolino secured his first front row of the season to complete a nearly perfect Saturday for the Marc VDS squad.

After sitting at the top of the timing screens for a significant part of Q2, Filip Salac wasn’t all that pleased to only take fourth at the chequered flag, opening row two ahead of Pedro Acosta and Celestino Vietti – the Italian enjoying a much better weekend in France and providing an impressive save at turn three for the highlights reel. Somkiat Chantra in seventh position was only three tenths off pole and will be joined on the third row by Jake Dixon, whose session ended with a tumble at turn seven, and Manuel Gonzalez.

Q1 graduates Barry Baltus and Fermin Aldeguer will keep Albert Arenas company on the fourth row, while Aron Canet had to settle for 13^th after adding yet another crash to his weekend in Le Mans, prompting a red flag at the end of Q2 because his machine rested in the middle of the track at turn three. Bo Bendsneyder and Lukas Tulovic also escaped Q1 but then hit the deck in Q2 and will be joining Canet on the fifth row of the grid.

Results:

Despite a still damp track impeding progress on the combined timesheets, a hint of sun allowed the intermediate class to take slick tyres out of their covers in the closing stages of the final practice session and create some pretty sizeable gaps on the timesheets. Somkiat Chantra did not even bother with wet tyres and only joined the track in the final handful of minutes, heading straight to the top of the timesheets. Tony Arbolino was his main challenger but eventually settled for second position, over half a second behind the leader, both riders safely within Q2 based on Friday’s hierarchy. 

Sean Dylan Kelly won’t be joining them there, but the American rider made a late jump to join the top three of the session, while Filip Salac and Aron Canet completed the top 10 and the Q2 line-up. Lukas Tulovic also seemed to enjoy the tricky conditions as he claimed sixth in the session, but the more sluggish start on Friday leaves him in Q1. Joe Roberts, Jeremy Alcoba, Sam Lowes and Zonta van den Goorbergh completed the top 10 of the session, although only Roberts and Lowes have secured Q2 tickets – the Brit keeping the lead on the combined timesheets. 

After featuring quite heavily at the front at the start of the session, Pedro Acosta wasn’t tempted by slicks and eventually dropped down to 14th position, over four seconds behind the leader. The Spaniard had secured his Q2 spot on Friday, as did Ai Ogura, Celestino Vietti, Alonso Lopez, Albert Arenas, Manuel Gonzalez, Sergio Garcia and Jake Dixon. 

Results:

After a tough morning session of practice, Sam Lowes has reasserted himself by topping the first day of practice for the Moto2 class at Le Mans. The Marc VDS rider was just five thousandths of a second faster than Pedro Acosta on the Ajo KTM machine. Alonso Lopez was third quickest, the Speed Up Boscoscuro rider just under a tenth behind Sam Lowes, and two tenths quicker than the morning's fastest rider Filip Salac.

Results:

Filip Salac ended the first session of practice for the Moto2 class at Le Mans, finishing five hundredths ahead of Alonso Lopez, who was in turn five hundredths ahead of Pedro Acosta.

Though the session was dry and sunny, cool temperatures turned Moto2 P1 into a crash-fest. Rory Skinner and Sean Dylan Kelly of American Racing crashed twice, as did Jerez winner Sam Lowes.

Results:

Some sunshine was allowed to break through the cloud cover for the intermediate class race and the sun truly smiled on Sam Lowes, the poleman securing an indisputable victory by almost three seconds, his first since 2021. The Marc VDS veteran denied victory for the local favourites but they seemed happy enough to join him on the podium, with Pedro Acosta in second and Alonso Lopez third.

Acosta made a promising start off the line, taking the lead into turn one, while Lowes traded places with Lopez early on and a rocket-quick Tony Arbolino went from 10th on the grid to fourth by turn three. Lowes managed to recover the lead at the final corner of the opening lap and it looked like Acosta was biding his time to retaliate, while the squabble between Lopez and Arbolino dropped them over a second behind the two leaders by lap four. It wasn’t just Lopez that the Italian had to contend with, as Ai Ogura and the fast starting duo of Filip Salac and Aron Canet were also in the mix and looking feisty straight away. A slow start for front row starter Jake Dixon dropped him another second back, in the company of Albert Arenas and he never really managed to close that gap significantly.

The status quo was maintained at the front for the next few laps, Lowes setting a hot pace and keeping Acosta at arm’s length, while Lopez had some breathing room down in third, two seconds behind the leaders and steadily distancing the rest of the chase, while Arbolino struggled to make a move stick on Ogura. The gaps continued to increase at the front, and the provisional podium looked pretty set, barring any mistakes, the main battle being the one for fourth, where Ogura was still fending off Arbolino and Canet. The fight lost its main contender when Ogura crashed out at turn one with nine laps remaining, just as he was being overtaken by Arbolino and the Italian was pushing to shake off Canet as well.

Back at the front, Lowes continued to extend his advantage, up to two and a half seconds with seven laps remaining and Acosta did not seem to have an answer to his pace but was happy enough with second place. Lopez continued a lonely ride to third five seconds back, while Arbolino was steadily distancing Canet as well. However, the final three laps saw a resurgence from Canet, the Spaniard closing in on Arbolino, but the Italian managed a safe buffer until the chequered flag to keep fourth place. Dixon fended off Chantra for sixth, while Arenas, Salac and Fermin Aldeguer completed the top 10 – despite a long lap penalty for the Speed Up rider.

Although he missed out on victory, Acosta leaves his home race leading the world championship but tied on points with Arbolino. Canet stays third, 22 points down, with Lopez promoted to fourth with a 29-point deficit and Lowes making a big jump to fifth, 31 points down.

Results:

Although the increased temperatures posed more of a challenge for the intermediate class, one man who seemed to really enjoy the toasty return to Jerez was Sam Lowes. The British rider was fast throughout the weekend and one step ahead of the competition in Q2, taking pole position by almost six tenths of a second. Pedro Acosta was best of the rest in second place, with Jake Dixon joining them on the front row of the grid.

Alonso Lopez kept close in fourth, while Ai Ogura is making a rapid return to competitiveness by leading Q1 and climbing into the top five. Barry Baltus will be joining the duo on the second row of the grid, while Celestino Vietti opens row three, ahead of Q1 graduate Joe Roberts and Albert Arenas – who was on course to improve on 9th place but took a late tumble at turn 12.

A subdued Tony Arbolino settled for 10th, ahead of Somkiat Chantra and a surprising Aron Canet, this morning’s record holder struggling to go any faster than 12th in the hotter conditions. Filip Salac, Fermín Aldeguer and Bo Bendsneyder make up row five, while Q1 escapees Manuel Gonzalez and Zonta van den Goorbergh are joined by rookie Sergio Garcia onto the sixth row.

Results:

Although conditions allowed for a complete reshuffling of the combined top 14 positions in the final practice session, all eyes were on the battle between Friday headliner Sam Lowes and home favourite Pedro Acosta, who swapped top spot throughout the session, only to be shown up by Aron Canet stealing the all-time lap record for Moto2 in the final couple of minutes of P3. Acosta tried to retaliate but came five hundredths of a second short, with Lowes another three tenths back.

Amongst the supporting actors, Albert Arenas climbed into fourth, with Alonso Lopez making a slower start but joining the top five in the closing stages. After leading the way early in the session, Jake Dixon dropped to sixth position, seven tenths off the leader and just ahead of rookie Sergio Garcia and Filip Salac. Although he was the only man who failed to improve his time from Friday, Somkiat Chantra was securely into Q2 with ninth place on the combined standings, while Celestino Vietti rounded out the top 10.

The final tickets straight to Q2 were handed out to some of the usual suspects, Tony Arbolino, Fermín Aldeguer, Barry Baltus and Bo Bendsneyder, while Lukas Tulovic missed out by seven hundredths of a second. He will be joined in Q1 by the likes of Manuel Gonzalez, Dennis Foggia, Ai Ogura and Joe Roberts – all four men over a second slower than the leader. Results:

Pedro Acosta finished a hot afternoon session of free practice at the top of the Moto2 timesheets. The KTM Ajo rider was nearly a quarter of a second faster than Aron Canet and Sam Lowes, while Lowes' Marc VDS teammate Tony Arbolino was fourth quickest. The rising temperatures meant that nobody in the top 20 improved their times.

Results:

Sam Lowes set the standard in the Moto2 class at Jerez, topping the timesheets in the first session of practice for the Moto2 class. Somkiat Chantra took second spot, just under a quarter of a second behind Lowes. Chantra headed up a close group with Alonso Lopez at the head, and Pedro Acosta and Jake Dixon not far behind.

Result: