Máximo Quiles won the French Grand Prix with an impressive 2-second lead in the wet. He was followed home by Adrián Fernández and Matteo Bertelle. This was Bertelle’s first podium since his head injury, which put him out of most of the season last year.
Most of the weekend was dry, with the field closed across most of the session. Let’s take a look back at the latest race weekend.
David Muñoz heads Friday practice in a tight field
David Muñoz was fastest at the end of Friday, carrying on his fast speed from Jerez. The whole of the field was tight, with the top 19 covered by less than a second. Behind Muñoz were his teammates David Almansa and Marco Morelli.
The morning session was cold for the bikes as they began tuning. However, that didn’t stop everyone from setting laps straight away. The laps were a second slower than usual due to the cold.
Other than that, the morning session was quite slow, just allowing the riders to get used to the Le Mans circuit. Álvaro Carpe set the fastest lap in the morning session.
The afternoon session saw more action with everyone fighting for the top spot. Máximo Quiles seemed to have a slow start to the weekend, only finishing 8th by the end of day one. He also had a crash, which he doesn’t usually do.
Even with a warmer track, people were still struggling with frequent crashes. However, Rico Salmela managed to save his crash in magnificent style.
As always, it was the last 10 minutes that brought all the riders to life and had them trying to set the fastest lap. With crashes for a few riders causing yellow flags and cancelling other riders’ laps, it was hard to put together the perfect lap, as Muñoz did.
Adrián Fernández takes pole at Le Mans
Adrián Fernández found the fastest way around Le Mans, 0.140 seconds ahead of Máximo Quiles, with Joel Kelso coming in third. The qualifying was a tight competition throughout both sessions. As always, everything started in Q1.
With some early crashes from Guido Pini and everyone trying to follow someone, the session was a little messy, and the top four were decided very late on. Eventually, it was Álvaro Carpe, Adrián Cruces, Cormac Buchanan, and Guido Pini who made it through to Q2.
As Q2 started, the first runs saw everyone trying to set their banker laps to guarantee a decent grid position. With three minutes to go, everyone was heading out in a rush. Jesús Ríos was clearly in the biggest rush with his tyre warmer still connected to his tyre as he was leaving the pit lane. He got it off and carried on.
The battle for pole was close, with everyone pushing hard for the fastest lap. Everyone was setting personal bests, so it was hard to see where everyone would slot in. People like Matteo Bertelle were pushing that hard that he nearly had a massive crash, which he somehow saved.
However, it was Fernández who pushed hardest of all to go fastest and have the best position for Sunday.
Qualifying top 10:
P1: #31 Adrián Fernández
P2: #28 Máximo Quiles
P3: #66 Joel Kelso
P4: #97 Marco Morelli
P5: #64 David Muñoz
P6: #9 Veda Pratama
P7: #51 Brian Uriarte
P8: #83 Álvaro Carpe
P9: #18 Matteo Bertelle
P10: #8 Eddie O’Shea
Máximo Quiles wins a wet race
With 30 minutes to go before the race start, the heavens opened, and the rain fell hard. The riders’ sighting laps would be the first chance to see Le Mans in the wet this weekend. The race was reduced to 13 laps, with extra sighting laps to help the riders get used to the conditions.
The rain stopped before the race started, yet the track was still very wet. None of the riders on the grid had ever won a Moto3 wet race. The race was anyone’s for the taking.
The lights went out, and we went racing where Máximo Quiles took the lead from Joel Kelso, Marco Morelli and Adrián Fernández. As expected, there were many crashes, including three on the first lap. Most notable was David Muñoz, who had pace all weekend.
Quiles and Fernández seemed the strongest in the front group and started pulling away from the rest. As they pulled away, everyone else started pushing to catch them, causing even more crashes among riders like Kelso, who is usually good in wet conditions.
For a wet race, which usually brings the drama, it was quite boring; there were many crashes, and few overtakes. Morelli crashed on lap 5 from third place. His third place was taken by Matteo Bertelle. He was given a long lap penalty for taking a shortcut at turn 10, which he did without losing any positions, as he had a gap to fourth, Veda Pratama.
As the riders grew more comfortable, the pace also increased. Bertelle set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 10, showing how much the conditions were improving lap by lap. Quiles had built a gap of two seconds over Fernández, making his lead comfortable.
In the end, it was Máximo Quiles who crossed the line first with a big wheelie to celebrate. He made riding in the wet look easy. Adrián Fernández and Matteo Bertelle completed the podium. Quiles’ championship lead has been extended to 56 points ahead with Álvaro Carpe crashing in the race.
Post Race Interview
Bertelle: “On the last lap, I started to cry, but I’m super happy.”
Fernandez: “As always, it is difficult to win a race against Quiles, but I will keep trying.”
Quiles: “It has been incredible at the start of the championship. I’m very happy with the race.”
Race Top 10:
P1: #28 Máximo Quiles
P2: #31 Adrián Fernández
P3: #18 Matteo Bertelle
P4: #9 Veda Pratama
P5: #78 Joel Esteban
P6: #94 Guido Pini
P7: #11 Adrián Cruces
P8: #22 David Almansa
P9: #8 Eddie O’Shea
P10: #13 Hakim Danish
The next race will be at The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya next weekend.