French Moto3: Masia takes magical last corner win in shortened race

Jaume Masia ominously topped warm-up showing the pace to run at the front and took the opportunity left open to him by Ayumu Sasaki to win the Moto3 French Grand Prix in Le Mans, round seven of the championship.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider lined up third again for the shortened fourteen lap race as original grid positions were kept.

The Spaniard did his share of the work at the front of the race with Dennis Foggia, hitting the front into corners with superb breaking only to have the Italian bite back with the Honda’s superior straight line ability.

Masia took the lead back from Foggia at the start of the final lap and held on to the Dunlop bridge after a flurry of challenges.

It was Ayumu Sasaki and his re-bulit Sterilgard Husqvarna Max bike who came to play with the duo on the last lap after an error by Sergio Garcia broke the huge lead group into a clear top five.

Into the esses the Japanese rider came from behind to first and looked to have the race in the bag but left the door open and Masia did not need to be invited twice, powering thorugh to cross the finish line 0.150s ahead.

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It is Masia’s second win of the season after he also took victory in America and also his fourth consecutive podium appearance.

Sasaki held onto second for his third podium visit of the year as Izan Guevara, who had quietly lurked and stayed trouble free flew past the Leopard in the rundown to the chequered flag to claim third for Gaviota GasGas Aspar, rewarding all of his team for the hard work they put in to repairing his heavily damaged bike after being one of several to fall in the rain on the original race start.

Guevara made back to back rostrum visits for the first time after winning last time out in Jerez.

Dennis Foggia had dominated ahead of Sunday, topping every session up to and including qualifying, where he claimed his first pole position.

Foggia’s team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki did a great job backing him at the front of the race, slotting in between him and Masia whenever he could but finished an eventual fifth.

Carlos Tatay (CF MOTO Racing PruestelGP) was a distant sixth, immediately taking the race to Garcia when he slipped down into his clutches.

Championship leader Garcia couldn’t pass his compatriot but did hold off Ryusei Yamanaka in eighth for MT Helmets - MSI.

Deniz Oncu was in the mix in the early stages but faded back to ninth for Red Bull KTM Tech 3.

Andrea Migno made it back to the grid and gave enough second time around to complete the top ten for Rivacold Snipers.

Daniel Holgado was the best of the rookies in eleventh just behind in a big lower battle order which also involved John McPhee.

After missing five races John McPhee was back for just his second race of the season. A shortened race distance played into his hands, allowing for a slight lack of fitness race on the bike the Sterilgarda Max rider could really get into the race, and lap after lap made progress riding as high as tenth before finishing his mid pack duel twelfth.

Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was close behind in 13th.

Diogo Moreira lead both race starts but faded quickly on the second attempt. The MT Helmets rider desperately tried to bridge the gap after having to take a long lap penalty for cutting the corner at turn 4 but had to settle for 14th.

Kaito Toba collected the final point on offer in 15th for CIP Green Power.

Home hope Lorenzo Fellon started 15th and despite being willed on by the crowd he slipped to 23rd on the second SIC58 entry.

The VisionTrack team had no previous experience of the Le Mans track, Scott Ogden made his aim to be top Brit ahead of McPhee, who was just ahead of him on the grid. Sadly he fell on the restart, so Joshua Whatley was the best of their runners in 26th .

Xavier Artigas also failed to finish.

Joel Kelso missed race day. After qualifying in eleventh the Australian was withdrawn as the tendon injuries sustained in his Spanish GP crash continued to be an issue.

What happened before the red flag?

The first lap saw some caution as the spits of rain became far heavier down near pitlane. Despite that as they arrived at Turn 14 on the approach to the finish line a group of riders near each other on track all slipped out in quick succession : Garcia, his team-mate Guevara, Riccardo Rossi, Ayumu Sasaki and Andrea Migno.

Still the race was not stopped with Suzuki briefly taking over from Moreira at the front as he slowed in the wet. There were more fallers to come with Daniel Holgado clipped by Elia Bartolini at Turn 3 on the next lap who then fell himself in sympathy.

Kaito Toba crashed out soon after as the red flag finally waved.

The GasGas garage was busy rebuilding two bikes - Guevara’s took the most of the damage in the multiple pile-up with not only internal work needed but cosmetic too - the number on the front was completely smashed off. Jorge Martinez ‘Aspar’ clapped the team for getting both riders back out and breathed a sigh of relief.

Where does that leave the championship table?

Sergio Garcia still leads the way after his ninth place finish, with a total of 112 points. Foggia is no longer sitting in second - that position now belongs to race winner Masia who is tied on points with the Italian with 95 each, placed ahead thanks to his two race wins.

Izan Guevara moves into fourth in the title standings thanks to consecutive podium finishes after a win in Spain.

Moto3 returns in two weeks time when the paddock moves on to Mugello for the Italian Grand Prix over the weekend of 27-29th May.