#FrenchGP Le Mans Moto3 Race: Victory for Joan Mir, who widens the gap in the Championship

After a chaotic first start, Romano Fenati fell and Mir took off alone in the lead to win ahead of Aron Canet, Fabio di Giannantonio, Marcos Ramirez, Juanfran Guevara, Enea Bastianini and Jules Danilo. Mir's advantage in the Championship increased to 34 points.

#FrenchGP Moto3	2016	2017
FP1	1'43.959 Jorge Navarro	1'51.468 Adam Norrodin
FP2	1'43.365 Brad Binder	1'52.716 Jorge Martin
FP3	1'42.832 Jakub Kornfeil	1'50.175 Nicolo Bulega
QP	1'42.756 Niccolo Antonelli	1'42.813 Jorge Martin
Warm up	1'43.499 Jorge Navarro	1'42.453 Joan Mir
Course	Binder, Fenati, Navarro	Mir, Canet, di Giannantonio
All time lap record	1'42.491 Efren Vazquez 2014	1'42.485 Joan Mir

 

Jorge Martín started from pole position for the third time in his career, which put him tied with John McPhee and Romano Fenati. It was the first time that a Spanish rider had achieved two successive poles in Moto3 since Alex Rins in 2013 (Japan-Valencia). Martin hoped to win his first Grand Prix.

Nicholas Bulega had qualified second on the grid, equaling his best qualifying result in 2017. He too was aiming for his first Grand Prix victory and the first victory for KTM since Brad Binder in Valencia last year. It was the first time since Phillip Island in Australia last October that two KTM riders qualified on the front row.

The air temperature was 18° and the air temperature was 28°. gabriel rodrigo was withdrawn due to a broken collarbone during practice. He hopes to be back for the Catalan GP (June 11). Martin, Bulega and Guevara started from the first row, Danilo from the sixth. The sun was shining.

Jorge Martin was the fastest at the start ahead of Romano Fenati, Albert Arenas, Juanfran Guevara, Joan Mir and Nicolo Bulega. A quadruple fall eliminated Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Tatsuki Suzuki, Adam Norrodin and Jakub Kornfeil. An avalanche of falls occurred on oil lost by Adam Norrodin who had fallen previously. The race was stopped at the red flag, with a new start scheduled for 16 laps, instead of 24 initially. Bulega, Antonelli and Mir took charge of the medical headquarters. Crews were rushing to repair the motorcycles.

A new start was given, with the grid identical to the first. All the pilots were able to leave, except Norrodin. Martin was the quickest to start, ahead of Fenati, Guevara, Antonelli, Ramirez and Arenas. Fenati took command, closely followed by Martin and Guevara while Antonelli, then third, fell without seriousness. He left last.

At 14 laps from the checkered flag, Fenati preceded Martin, Ramirez, Guevara, Mir and Bastianini. Jules Danilo was eleventh, just ahead of Danny Kent. Fenati and Martin opened up a gap of 0.8 on Mir and Ramirez. Mir set the best lap in 1'42.485. Suddenly Jorge Martin, in second position, was doing a high side at La Chapelle, without gravity. Albert Arenas fell shortly after in the same place.

With 12 laps remaining, Fenati alone in the lead had a 1.1 lead over Mir and 1.8 over the chasing group led by Binder, ahead of Ramirez, Canet, Guevara and Bastianini. Danilo was ninth.

Mir was closing in on Fenati by 0.5. 2.3 behind the Spaniard, leader of the Championship, Canet was fighting against Binder, Ramirez, Guevara, Bastianini, di Giannantonio and Danilo (ninth). The leader Romano Fenati fell without gravity.

Joan Mir took the lead, 3 seconds ahead of Canet, Binder and a group which included a total of ten drivers, including Jules Danilo seventh who had a very good race. Mir increased his advantage to 4.2.

With 5 laps to go to the checkered flag, Mir had a 4.8 lead over Ramirez and the field of 10 drivers, while Jorge Martin retired at his pit stop. Niccolo Antonelli fell for the second time and retired. Joan Mir completely dominated with more than 5 seconds ahead, ahead of di Giannantonio, Ramirez, Binder, Bastianini, Guevara, Canet, Danilo and Migno. Binder fell in the last lap without seriousness.

Joan Mir won comfortably ahead of Aron Canet, Fabio di Giannantonio, Marcos Ramirez, Juanfran Guevara, Enea Bastianini and Jules Danilo.

The multiple fall of the 1991 French GP in 250cc:

Race results:

1. Joan mir SPA Leopard Racing (Honda) 27m 37.830s
2. Aron canet SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 27m 42.082s
3. Fabio DiGiannantonio ITA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 (Honda) 27m 42.195s
4. Marcos Ramirez SPA Platinum Bay Real Estate (KTM) 27m 42.299s
5. Juanfran Guevara SPA RBA BOE Racing Team (KTM) 27m 42.675s
6. Enea Bastianini ITA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 27m 43.293s
7. Jules Danilo FRA Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (Honda) 27m 43.482s
8. Andrea Migno ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 27m 43.651s
9. Will Bendsneyder NED Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 27m 43.879s
10. Danny Kent GBR Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 27m 44.023s
11. Jakub Kornfeil CZE Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 27m 45.334s
12. John mcphee GBR British Talent Team (Honda) 27m 46.571s
13. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat THA Honda Team Asia (Honda) 27m 53.836s
14. Lorenzo Dalla Porta ITA Aspar Mahindra Moto3 (Mahindra) 27m 54.235s
15. Marco Bezzecchi ITA CIP (Mahindra) 27m 54.344s
16. Livio Law BEL Leopard Racing (Honda) 27m 54.469s
17. Nicholas Bulega ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 27m 54.582s
18. Manuel Pagliani ITA CIP (Mahindra) 27m 54.826s
19. Ayumu Sasaki JPN SIC Racing Team (Honda) 27m 54.876s
20. Maria Herrera SPA AGR Team (KTM) 27m 55.036s
21. Philipp Oettl GER Südmetall Schedl GP Racing (KTM) 28m 6.331s
22. Tony Arbolino ITA SIC58 Squadra Corse (Honda) 28m 11.228s
23. Patrick Pulkkinen END Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 28m 19.889s

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

1	Joan Mir	Honda	SPA	99
2	Roman FENATI	Honda	ITA	65
3	Aaron CANET	Honda	SPA	63
4	Jorge MARTIN	Honda	SPA	59
5	John MCPHEE	Honda	GBR	53
6	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Honda	ITA	51
7	Andrea MIGNO	KTM	ITA	43
8	Marcos RAMIREZ	KTM	SPA	36
9	Juanfran GUEVARA	KTM	SPA	34
10	Enea BASTIANINI	Honda	ITA	31
11	Nicholas BULEGA	KTM	ITA	22
12	Philipp OETTL	KTM	GER	20
13	Jules DANILO	Honda	FRA	16