Moto3: Vietti pounces late on to take French GP win

Round 10 of the 2020 Moto3 World Championship, the French Grand Prix, took place in France with Jaume Masia starting from pole position, while championship leader Ai Ogura started down in 16th. 

It was a perfect start for Albert Arenas, who took the holeshot ahead of Jaume Masia and Tony Arbolino, although the Italian moved up to second place in turn seven. 

It was not until the beginning of lap three that Arenas was headed, when Masia moved through at turn one, but already it was clear that nobody would be making a break.

From there, the race turned into the classic Moto3 ‘pass or be passed’ with Masia remaining safe out front. But, in a field of clinical and aggressive riders, the passes of Darryn Binder stood out for their aggression and effectiveness. As he does so often, Binder flirted the line between aggressive and dangerous close to perfectly – crucially, not stepping over the line as is also a somewhat common occurrence for the Catalan GP winner. 

Masia held the lead for eight laps, after which he looked over his shoulder on the exit of turn six on lap 11 and dropped back to fourth as a result, dropping behind Arenas, Binder and Arbolino. 

Masia was able to retake the lead late on and led into the penultimate lap. The Spaniard had looked solid and consistent for the whole race, but a mistake at turn eight on the penultimate lap saw him drop behind Arenas and Vietti, the Italian taking the lead. Tony Arbolino also moved through on the #5 at turn nine, dropping the Leopard Honda rider from the podium. 

Vietti was able to hold on to the lead onto the final lap, and throughout that final tour was able to be strong enough in the right areas in order to defend his position at the front. A move from Arbolino on Arenas into turn one perhaps strengthened Vietti’s position as the #14 had not spent as much time in the race in combat with the #13 as Arenas, but in any case it was a brilliant final lap from Vietti, who took his second win of the season after being the only rider to choose the harder option rear tyre and courtesy of this win moved to within 16 points of the championship lead. 

Arbolino was able to hold on to second place, missing out to Vietti on the final lap for the second time this season. It was the #14’s fourth podium of the season and sees him close his points deficit to 20.

That deficit is now to Albert Arenas, who reclaimed the championship lead after his incident with John McPhee in Catalunya. The Spaniard rode a smart race, although he looked on the limit in braking a few times. Ultimately, he capitalised on the poor form of his closest championship rival, Ai Ogura, who missed the podium in this race for only the fourth time this season. The #75’s championship advantage now stands at six points ahead of the Aragon double-header. 

Jaume Masia could do nothing to regain a position on the podium in the final lap and finished fourth – a disappointment after starting from pole position and leading for so much of the race. Behind him, Andrea Migno completed the top five, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki, Raul Fernandez and Gabriel Rodrigo who was the final rider in the lead group in eighth. 

There were 14 seconds, then, back to ninth-placed Ai Ogura, who came back to the top 10 after dropping as low as 24th in the early part of the race. Another poor weekend for the #79 after his 11th place in Barcelona, which is a surprise having been so consistent up to Misano. On the positive side for the Japanese rider, Aragon is next, and last year he was on the podium in MotorLand. 

Behind Ogura was Carlos Tatay, who completed the top 10, ahead of Sergio Garcia, Filip Salac, Dennis Foggia, Riccardo Rossi and Stefano Nepa who completed the top 15. 

In 16th was Barry Baltus, having started from the back of the grid, the Belgian finishing ahead of Jason Dupasquier, Ryusei Yamanaka who had a long lap penalty, Khairul Idham Pawi and Yuki Kunii who rounded out the top 20. Maximilian Kofler and Deniz Oncu were the final two finishers in 21st and 22nd, respectively.

The first retirements were the two Husqvarnas of Alonso Lopez and Romano Fenati, the Spaniard missing the braking for turn 16 and running into the back of his teammate. After them, Tatsuki Suzuki and Davide Pizzoli both crashed, before a high side seemed to cause Darryn Binder’s KTM to cut out ending the South African’s podium charge. Kaito Toba then crashed on his own at turn seven, before Jeremy Alcoba crashed at turn 10 half a lap after the #27 went down, the Spaniard’s bike leaving John McPhee nowhere to go, the #17 going down as a result and perhaps his championship challenge is now over. Niccolo Antonelli was the final retirement, crashing four laps from the flag.