Alex Rins moved back into the lead of the Moto2 world championship with victory in the French Grand Prix. The Spaniard resisted race-long pressure from Speed Up’s Simone Corsi and with Sam Lowes finishing a lonely sixth, Rins has taken a five-point lead over the Gresini rider.
After his dominance during qualifying, the signs looked to be ominous when Thomas Luthi converted pole position into a first lap lead ahead of Rins and Corsi. The other championship favourites saw any chance of going with the leading group disappear in the early laps with Lowes and Johann Zarco falling to tenth and eleventh while ninth-placed Jonas Folger fell out of the race altogether after a crash at La Chapelle.
As Lowes began to make progress, passing Dominique Aegerter and Marcel Schrotter for seventh, Rins was also on the move and after one failed manoeuvre at Musée, the Pons rider finally overhauled Luthi thanks to a helpful slipstream down the start/finish straight. Corsi would soon produce a near-identical move to snatch second soon afterwards and for several laps, kept pace with the leading Kalex, but in the closing laps the Italian’s challenge faded, forcing him to settle for second.
Luthi took third, aided by a crash for Lorenzo Baldassarri which took him out of podium contention. Franco Morbidelli held off Takaaki Nakagami for fourth while Sam Lowes was promoted to sixth by Baldassarri’s misfortune. The Briton’s championship hopes were also boosted by a crash for Johann Zarco which took the defending champion out of seventh. The Frenchman’s loss was Axel Pons’ gain, while Hafizh Syahrin, Miguel Oliveira and Luis Salom were also promoted into the top ten.
Moto2 Monster Energy Grand Prix de France (Race Result)
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