Aspar’s David Alonso won a tight battle to take victory in the French Grand Prix Moto3 race at Le Mans, overcoming a challenge from Tech3’s Daniel Holgado and Husqvarna’s Collin Veijer.
The form man before lights out was Alonso, who lined up on pole having topped every weekend session thus far.
Alonso lined up on the front row with championship leader Daniel Holgado and Ajo KTM rider Jose Antonio Rueda.
Veijer, who sat third in the standings before lights out and winner of the previous round, fronted the second row.
It was a good start from Alonso, with Holgado challenging into Turn 1 and then overtaking into Turn 4 to take the lead.
The big move on Lap 1 was Boe Motorsport’s David Munoz, charging from eighth on the grid to third by Turn 3 before moving past Alonso to take second.
Into Lap 2 and 20 Holgado, Munoz and Alonso looked like the form trio at the front, but a train of bikes was queueing behind in typical Moto3 fashion.
Leading the chasing pack was Adrian Fernandez, who took third off of Alonso at the end of Lap 2, albeit with a double long lap penalty looming over his head and he took the first of those on Lap 3 – dropping him to 16th.
Veijer at this point assumed third, ahead of Alonso and Ivan Ortola, until Angel Piqueras punched in a fastest lap and forced his way into the top five at Turn 3 on Lap 4.
Piqueras then pipped Alonso for fourth at Turn 8 (Garage Vert), but not to be outdone, the polesitter reclaimed the position after a back-and-forth with the Leopard rider.
The field was being well-behaved by Moto3 standards and a nose-to-tail group of bikes stretching outside of the points-paying positions meant the Le Mans crowd was being treated to an enthralling contest – typified by 17th placed Stefano Nepa setting the fastest lap on the sixth tour of the Bugatti Circuit.
On Lap 8 Munoz lost his hold on second to Jerez race winner Veijer and then temporarily lost third to Riccardo Rossi.
However, Munoz elected to reclaim third by shunting Rossi off at Turn 11, calling the race stewards to investigate the decision.
The decision came two laps later and the verdict was a double long lap penalty for the Spaniard, effectively ending his challenge for victory.
Amid the drama surrounding Munoz, Veijer took to the front on Lap 9 as he sought to claim back-to-back victories.
Holgado tucked in behind the Husqvarna rider, meanwhile, Alonso watched proceedings unfold from fourth place as Munoz, having forced his way into the lead, took his first long lap penalty on Lap 11.
Munoz had displaced Veijer from his controlling position at the front, meaning Holgado returned to be race leader wants the Boe Motorsports machine had exited stage left via the long lap loop.
The massive train of bikes was starting to stretch on Lap 13 as Veijer – back in the lead again – Holgado, Alonso and Ortola looked to break away.
Not to be left out, Ortola’s MT Helmets team-mate Ryusei Yamanaka was fighting to keep pace with the front four in fifth.
Yamanaka’s claim to take a top-five place was affected by Aspar rider Joel Esteban who took P5 on Lap 14.
Then as the field came around to start Lap 15, the top two tipped into Turn 1 and Holgado bashed into the side of Veijer, luckily avoiding taking the pair out.
The front two were given a brief reprieve when Ortola put a block pass on Alonso to take third at Turn 3 on Lap 17, but half a lap later, Alonso came back at the MT Helmets rider to resume running in the top three.
With three laps to go Veijer retook the lead but then coming out of Garage Vert Alonso drafted from third to first and coming onto the start of the penultimate lap, the front three engaged in an almighty scrap.
At the start of the final lap, it was Holgado from Alonso, at least until Turn 2 as the polesitter took to the front.
Holgado then tried to draft past on the back straight but Alonso held firm on the breaks.
The #80 rider couldn’t be passed during the final few corners and took his third Grand Prix win of the season, narrowing the gap to Holgado at the top of the standings to just a single point.
Alonso, Holgado and third-placed Veijer stopped on the cooldown lap to congratulate one another after a well-run race.
Esteban and Ortola were the best of the rest in fourth and fifth.
Fernandez came back from his double long lap penalty to finish in sixth, ahead of Yamanaka in seventh.
Rueda went from second on the grid to eighth, with Tatsuki Suzuki and Piqueras completing the top-10.
Luca Luneta and Jacob Roulstone finished just outside the top-10 in 11th and 12th with Joel Kelso and Taiyo Furusato 13th and 14th.
David Almansa took the final point on offer in 15th.
