Sergio Garcia takes a commanding win in Le Mans along with the Moto2 Championship lead ahead of MT Helmets teammate Ai Ogura, completing a one-two for the newest team on the grid. They were joined by Alonso Lopez on the podium to complete the top three. Pole sitter Aron Canet could only manage sixth place.
After starting in third place, Garcia got the best start of the riders on the front row and was leading by the time the pack went into turn one. He started gapping the rest of the field as soon as he got the clear air.
LET'S GOOOOOOOOO in #Moto2! 🚥
Fantastic start by @garciadols11 while poleman Canet is back in 11th 👀#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/szM3FbZREs
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 12, 2024
Joe Roberts got through on Canet at La Chappelle to take second place. The chase to catch Garcia was now on.
Lopez snuck past Manuel Gonzales, who also made a good start, to take third place and after falling down the grid Canet set the fastest lap on lap two.
On lap four, both Barry Baltus and David Munoz crashed at turn fourteen and turn six respectively. Both riders were okay following their crashes.
Canet continued to set fast laps and beat the race lap record set by Pedro Acosta on lap five. The Spaniard was catching up to the back of the chasing pack, but may have used up more tyre than he might have intended to.
The gap between Garcia in first and Roberts in second was hovering between 0.8 to 1 second, depending on where on the track the time was taken. Roberts was in a comfortable rhythm behind the Spaniard.
Zonta vd Goorbergh went down at turn eight on lap six causing a yellow flag and Gonzales crashed at the final corner from fifth place.
On the following lap, Canet pulled an impressive move to get past Roberts and Lopez was also able to sneak through past the American too. Lopez ran slightly wide so Roberts could get past him. This battle allowed Garcia to extend his lead over the group by half a second.
A few laps later on lap 10, Lopez pushed Roberts wide and made the move stick for third place.
Fermin Aldeguer had a quiet race up until lap 13 when he and Albert Arenas went side by side for a few corners until the Folladore Speed Up rider made the move stick.
Garcia extended his lead over second place rider to just over two seconds.
Roberts couldn’t capitalise on setting the fastest lap as Ogura passed him three laps later into turn thirteen. The Japanese rider qualified in seventeenth place and was able to carve his way through the field.
Lopez caught up to the back of Canet on lap 20 and got past but on the following lap made a mistake and a group of riders caught up.
On the final lap, Garcia had a 3.2 second lead over Lopez and was almost certain to win the race, providing that he did not make any significant mistakes.
Ogura made his way past Canet for third place and then Roberts was attacking the Spaniard into Garage Vert and was able to make the move stick. Ogura continued his fight up the field by taking second place from Lopez but they were fighting around the middle of the circuit but there was no way through for the Spaniard thanks to Roberts.
Roberts got past Lopez at turn 13 and they touched but Lopez was able to make his way back through.
🏁@garciadols11 WINS IN #Moto2 🏁
HE DOES IT AGAIN! 🔥#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/Ghmh1eGpWU
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 12, 2024
Sergio Garcia crossed the line with a 3.1s lead over Ai Ogura and Alonso Lopez. Joe Roberts lost the championship lead but finished a respectable fourth ahead of Somkiat Chantra, Aron Canet and Fermin Aldeguer. Tony Arbolino could only manage an eighth place finish ahead of Albert Arenas and Izan Guevara rounded out the top ten.
Feature image credit : Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
| 2024 Moto2 France – Race Results | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Garcia | SPA | MT Helmets – MSI (Boscoscuro) | 35m 20.709s |
| 2 | Ai Ogura | JPN | MT Helmets – MSI (Boscoscuro) | +3.174s |
| 3 | Alonso Lopez | SPA | Folladore Speed Up (Boscoscuro) | +3.704s |
| 4 | Joe Roberts | USA | OnlyFans American Racing Team (Kalex) | +3.764s |
| 5 | Somkiat Chantra | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) | +3.935s |
| 6 | Aron Canet | SPA | Fantic Racing (Kalex) | +4.511s |
| 7 | Fermin Aldeguer | SPA | Folladore Speed Up (Boscoscuro) | +4.811s |
| 8 | Tony Arbolino | ITA | Elf Marc VDS Racing (Kalex) | +6.811s |
| 9 | Albert Arenas | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini (Kalex) | +8.831s |
| 10 | Izan Guevara | SPA | CFMoto Inde Aspar Team (Kalex) | +14.215s |
| 11 | Jeremy Alcoba | SPA | Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team (Kalex) | +17.795s |
| 12 | Filip Salac | CZE | Elf Marc VDS Racing (Kalex) | +18.044s |
| 13 | Senna Agius | AUS | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) | +18.191s |
| 14 | Darryn Binder | RSA | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) | +18.349s |
| 15 | Marcos Ramirez | SPA | OnlyFans American Racing Team (Kalex) | +19.686s |
| 16 | Jaume Masia | SPA | Pertamina Mandalika GAS UP Team (Kalex) | +21.460s |
| 17 | Jake Dixon | GBR | CFMoto Inde Aspar Team (Kalex) | +26.939s |
| 18 | Deniz Oncu | TUR | Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) | +30.633s |
| 19 | Dennis Foggia | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) | +30.804s |
| 20 | Jorge Navarro | SPA | KLINT Forward Factory Team (Forward) | +37.741s |
| 21 | Xavi Cardelus | AND | Fantic Racing (Kalex) | +37.994s |
| 22 | Ayumu Sasaki | JPN | Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team (Kalex) | +38.968s |
| 23 | Daniel Munoz | SPA | Pertamina Mandalika GAS UP Team (Kalex) | DNF |
| 24 | Manuel Gonzalez | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini (Kalex) | DNF |
| 25 | Zonta van den Goorbergh | NED | RW – Idrofoglia Racing GP (Kalex) | DNF |
| 26 | Diogo Moreira | BRA | Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) | DNF |
| 27 | Xavier Artigas | SPA | KLINT Forward Factory Team (Forward) | DNF |
| 28 | Barry Baltus | BEL | RW – Idrofoglia Racing GP (Kalex) | DNF |