Sergio Garcia eased to a second career Moto3 win at a damp Le Mans to conquer the French Grand Prix ahead of Filip Salac.
Starting with a wet but ever drying track surface, survival was key in the early laps with many of the crash-hotspots still very slippy.
Early leader Niccollo Antonelli fell victim to the final bend on the opening tour, leaving quick-starting duo Salac and Garcia running 1-2 soon after the start.
The pair soon began to gap the field at a significant rate, five full seconds separating them from third-placed Riccardo Rossi after just six laps.
Salac looked to be hanging back from the attacking Garcia for the majority of the race as a dry line slowly emerged, bringing tyre conservation of the Dunlop wet compound tyres firmly into play, particularly in the closing stages of the encounter.
The Czech racer began his charge just past the mid-point of the race as he closed the gap to Garcia to just under a second, the GasGas rider clearly feeling the pressure as he ran wide at Turn 8 just under ten laps from the finish and allowing Salac into the leadership of the event.
His time at the front was short-lived though as Garcia moved back ahead before the end of the lap, the Spaniard extending his lead over Salac across the rest of the contest to ultimately take the chequered flag for his second career lightweight class victory by 2.3 seconds.
Salac though could at least console himself with a first ever visit to the rostrum, while third-placed Rossi held off a chasing John McPhee in the closing tours to claim his own first ever podium finish-his previous best having only been 11th.
McPhee’s run to fourth rewarded him with his first points of the year following a disastrous start to the 2021 campaign for the Scot, Ayumu Sasaki completing the top five after dropping back from the podium battle in the closing stages.
Adrian Fernandez came home sixth ahead of Leopard Racing’s Xavier Artigas, while championship leader Pedro Acosta recovered from an early Turn 3 crash to take crucial points for eighth, the Ajo pilot actually extending his series lead as his chief rivals struggled.
Deniz Oncu staged a late fight-back after lacking pace in the opening segment of the race to slavage ninth ahead of Romano Fenati.
Pole-man Andrea Migno lacked speed throughout the 22-lap sprint and eventually slipped to 11th by the time the chequered flag was waved.
Acosta’s lead now stands at 54 over the victorious Garcia having entered the weekend 51 clear of Antonelli-who failed to score as he couldn’t rejoin following his early incident- while Migno sits a further two points back in third.
Jaume Masia saw a golden opportunity to claw ground back on his team-mate lost early on after high-siding from the contest at the final corner only a few laps in while running fourth, while Darryn Binder also went down at Turn 3 while running sixth-the South African eventually coming home 20th after re-joining the fray.
