Alex Rins finishes second after again challenging for the win up until the final corner. Alex Marquez places fifth in a hard race, having fought for the podium.
The French Grand Prix offered excitement right up to the final metres of the Moto3 race, which was decided on the last lap. A large group of up to ten riders finished less than two seconds apart, and Alex Rins and Alex Marquez crossed the line in second and fifth place, respectively. They did so after a final lap full of overtaking, from which Jack Miller emerged victorious.
The race was a display of the quality of the Moto3 class, where excitement is practically guaranteed. The fastest riders in practice all led the race at different stages, with several of the frontrunners trying to escape. Rins attempted to go it alone for a few laps, but the constant overtaking and persistence of his rivals would lead to a group of ten riders fighting for victory and the podium until the end.
On a thrilling final lap, both Rins and Marquez took advantage of the mistakes of their rivals and the typical chaos of a Moto3 finale. Rins finished second and Marquez fifth, as Jack Miller took the win and extended his World Championship lead. Miller heads the standings with 104 points, with Rins fourth –33 behind– and Marquez fifth –44 behind.
The sixth round of the World Championship will take place in a fortnight at Mugello, with the Italian Grand Prix.
Alex Rins >> Audio
2nd, at 0.095 sec.
“I am very happy with this second position. The important thing is that I felt very comfortable with Miller and Vazquez early on in the race. I tried to escape; I guess they must have had a scare to have dropped so far back. It is difficult to maintain this pace alone, and as they had me as a reference, they caught up with me. It was a fun race without much trouble for me –I heard that others had difficulties, but maybe I was lacking a little aggression. Anyway, I’m happy with this result, which is very good both for me and for the team, for Honda and for the championship. At Mugello we will continue to work hard.”
Alex Marquez >> Audio
5th, at 0.931 sec.
“I think that I had a good race. I started seventh, but gradually was able to move up into second. Although the gap was very large, I was able to reduce it –but at the end I was unable to feel comfortable and found it hard to stick with the lead group. We need to improve a few aspects of the setup to give us a boost, so we will continue trying to develop ahead of the coming races. After the test in Aragon we have made a step forward, but there are still some things that aren’t working well and we will have to improve them progressively.”
