Bastianini wins Le Mans as Bagnaia buckles

Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati) has won his third grand prix in seven rounds in Le Mans overnight. But despite being the most winningest rider of the season so far, perhaps more impressive is the fact that he forced the normally unflappable Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati Team) into two rare mistakes – the latter of the two landing the factory Ducati rider in the gravel trap with just six laps to go.

It was looking as if Bagnaia would be celebrating his second-consecutive win as he eased past teammate and race leader Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati Team) on lap four and began reeling off consistently fast laps. So as Jack started to lose touch with his teammate, Bastianini took the Australian for second on lap 12 and began chasing down the race leader.

Related Reading:
Quartararo back on top after Portugal MotoGP win
Ducati could trial e-fuel in MotoGP
Enea takes MotoGP victory in Texas

Miller held on for a very popular second place, 2.7sec behind the Italian, and while Bagnaia buckled under pressure in France, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team) used all of his years of experience to hold off the race-long pressure of hometown hero and title rival Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) who was determined to celebrate on the podium in front of the 100,000-strong crowd.

“It was the most difficult race of the season so far,” the Aprilia rider said in parc ferme after holding off Quartararo by just one tenth of a second over the line.

Further back, Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) got the better of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) in their mid-race battle for sixth, though Suzuki’s Joan Mir would crash out of fourth place and elevate the pair to fifth and sixth respectively. And while it was another top-six finish for the Repsol Honda rider, Marquez was over four seconds behind Zarco and a full 15 seconds behind the Bastianini by the time he crossed the line.

Mir’s teammate Alex Rins had a scary crash early in the race, failing to stop for Turn 2 and crashing only after he came hurtling back on track ahead of the leaders. He remounted but eventually retired. Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) joined Bagnaia in the list of Ducati crashers, while Remy Gardner, Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira made it a KTM crash-fest in Le Mans.

Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu LCR Honda), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Luca Marini (Mooney VR46) and Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) rounded out the top 10.

Quartararo’s fourth place was enough to see him hold on to the championship lead on 102 points, with Espargaro (98) now just four points adrift in second place. Bastianini’s (94) win brings him well and truly into contention and 25 points clear of Alex Rins (69) in fourth. Miller’s (62) second place saw him leapfrog six positions and up to fifth place, albeit 40 points shy of Quartararo.

Brimming with confidence, Bastianini now heads to his home grand prix in Mugello in two weeks’ time.

Augusto Fernandez showed why he was drafted into one of the most competitive teams in the Moto2 paddock when he rode his Red Bull KTM Ajo machine to a dominant win, crossing the line over five seconds clear of the chasing pack.

Right from the start he had clear track behind him, as he and teammate Pedrosa Acosta eked out a 1.5sec gap as early as just lap three as Fernandez chased his rookie teammate. By lap nine, they were 5.5sec clear and, as Acosta crossed the line to start the tenth, he upped his pace to try and break free of the more experienced rider.

And it worked, for a while at least. By lap 11 he was nearly a second clear of Fernandez but it was too much and he lost the front of his Red Bull machine and his victory hopes. Further back, Aron Canet (HP40 Flexbox) got the better of the three-way battle for the final two spots of the podium; he was in a relatively comfortable second position for the final half a dozen laps of the race ahead of Somkiat Chantra (Team Honda Asia) and Cameron Beaubier (American Racing). And while Chantra had superior pace, a mistake with six to go left the Thai rider over a second behind Beaubier and the American’s best chance yet of a maiden Moto2 podium. But Chantra dug deep and retook third place in the final stages of the race to complete the podium.

Championship leader Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46) salvaged a 19th place start by finishing eighth, just three places behind his title rival Ai Ogura (Team Honda Asia) in fifth.

The result means Vietti now leads Ogura by 16 points with 108 versus 92. Canet’s consistency is paying off, he’s three points behind Ogura on 89.

Jaume Masia’s (Red Bull KTM Ajo) Moto3 race-winning move came on the first corner of the last lap as he dived underneath Dennis Foggia (Leopard Honda) to take the lead. And while Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) briefly got the better of the young Spaniard in the penultimate corner, Masia beat the Japanese rider to the line with Izan Guevara (Aspar GasGas) making up for a poor start to eventually complete the podium places.

It was the second attempt at the Moto3 race after a brief shower of rain meant seven riders didn’t complete the opening lap of the original grand prix. The restarted race saw all of the riders line up in their original positions for the shortened 14 lapper. Foggia went from first to fourth in the final lap and was followed over the line by teammate Tatsuki Suzuki, the top five covered by just half a second.

After qualifying 11th, Aussie Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) decided to not start the race as he continues to work on his recovery of injuries sustained last time out in Jerez.

Aspar Gas Gas rider Sergio Garcia’s eventual seventh place finish means he’s still leading the standings on 112 points. Masia (95) is up two places to second and on equal points with Foggia. Guevara (89) is in fourth ahead of Sasaki (75).