Pedro Acosta’s mistake puts Arbolino in the lead in moto 2

A difficult start to the race, with multiple collisions involving three Spanish drivers (Arón Canet, Manu González and Albert Arenas) without serious physical consequences, caused a red flag that stopped the test and reduced it from 22 to 14 laps. In the restart, apart from the hole in the grid for the three participants in the accident, there was no driver. Pole man Sam Lowes, that he also crashed before stopping the race and was able to return to put his bike on the grid but in last position.

Tony Arbolino, who was already the fastest in the first start by releasing the clutch, returned to the lead in the first corners. The Italian, who came to his senses Le Mans points tied in the general ranking with Pedro Acosta, He wrote a strong starting rhythm. Meanwhile, Murcian had to return from the second row of the grid. In his ascent he had them with Alonso López, which caused the final escape of the Italian. By the time Acosta settled into second place, the leader already had a lead of more than a second.

Acosta went into chase mode and drove three record laps, cutting Arbola’s lead tenth by tenth. However, in the fifth lap, he crashed and cleared the way for his rival. El Tiburón de Mazarrón blamed himself for the mistake that kept him out of the game at Le Mans for the second year in a row: «I was chasing Arbolino fast, maybe too much and that’s the way races are. But it is better that they happen at the beginning than at the end. He positively analyzed the fact of giving up leadership: “It is always better to chase than to be chased.”

Arbolino was immediately warned from the wall about Acosta’s fall and she relaxed. To the extent that the chasing duo of Salac and López slowed until they were behind him. However, the Italian performed perfectly at the end of the race and never once allowed his rivals to get closer to less than half a second. The Czech driver crossed the finish line in second, and the Madrid native was third, which is the same position he climbed to in the general standings, which is now led by Arbolino, with 25 points ahead of Acosta and 38 points ahead of López.

Dani Holgado shows why he is the Moto 3 leader

The battle for victory in Moto Race 3 of Le Mans was decided in the chicane of the first lap. From the third position on the grid, Dani Holgado braked later than everyone else in the first corner and took the lead. He did not leave that position until the end, even when the Japanese Sasaki tested him nine laps before the end, because in the next corner he encountered an immediate reaction from the driver from Valencia.

Holgado had it very clear, with the best pace of the race and intent on bearing the brunt of it. His speed was such that the group began to disintegrate under its own weight. There was almost no overtaking from behind as his rivals did enough to follow the lead of the race. The only one who seemed to have anything else was Pole man Sasaki, who at times seemed like an extension of Holgad and studied him every step of the way. Although it was of little use.

However, Holgado had a change of pace in the last three laps to hold off the Japanese attack. He nailed those last few turns to take his second win of the year ahead of Sasaki. “Today I am very proud of myself because I showed that I am the Moto3 leader in something,” commented the Valencian after the recital in Le Mans.

Holgado already won the first round this year in Portimão, but was not on the podium after that. His regularity (his worst position to date is sixth) has allowed him to stay at the top of the table. After the victory at Le Mans, the Valencian admitted that in recent races he had had physical problems with his forearms, which became stiff and numb in the last few laps, preventing him from attacking at the end of the race. The problem that worked these weeks and that disappeared in Le Mans.

Holgado now leads Jaume Masiá and Iván Ortolá with a total of 21 points, they are third and fourth in the race and are tied in the standings. Both are already ahead of the Brazilian Moreira, fourth and who fell in France, and the fifth is the Catalan Xavi Artigas. A category with clear Spanish dominance for another season.