Ajo Motorsport rider experiences misfortune at French Grand Prix and finishes in twenty-fourth position after a crash.

Johann Zarco had a difficult French Grand Prix in front of his home fans at Le Mans, placing outside the points due to a crash. The reigning Moto2 World Champion had not started well in the race, and crossed the line twenty-fourth after remounting his bike.

The Frenchman, who had started from fourth on the grid, was keen to delight the fans with a victory on home soil. Unfortunately, a poor start saw him lose several positions in the opening stages of the race, and by the end of the first lap he was down to eleventh place.

Zarco remained in that spot for several laps until, from Lap 8, he was able to pass some of the riders who preceded him climb to eighth place. However, a crash on the final corner of Lap 17 brought his progress to a halt, and turned his hopes of a points finish to dust. The Ajo Motorsport rider brought his bike home in twenty-fourth, completing the race as a matter of pride.

With this result, Zarco is fourth in the Moto2 World Championship with 56 points. A chance to make amends will be quick in coming for Zarco. In a fortnight’s time, at Mugello, he will be back in action at the Italian Grand Prix.

Results (Race)
1. Alex Rins (Kalex) 42:27.312
2. Simone Corsi (Speed Up) +1.802
3. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) +4.608
4. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) +9.148
5. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) +9.828
24. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) +1:02.484

Moto2 World Championship Standing 2016
1. Alex Rins (Kalex) 87 points
2. Sam Lowes (Speed Up) 82 points
3. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 69 points
4. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) 56 points
5. Jonas Folger (Kalex) 47 points

Aki Ajo – Team Manager
“In the end it wasn’t a good weekend for us in Moto2. Things were looking good on Friday and yesterday, even though we had a small crash. Obviously we are disappointed with the result today; at the start of the race we weren’t too strong, and at the end Johann [Zarco] had a small crash, so we leave Le Mans empty handed. Now we need to analyse what happened and focus on the next race, at Mugello.”

5 JOHANN ZARCO
“It was a difficult race. I didn’t manage to find a good line at the start and lost a lot of positions. I didn’t feel comfortable behind other riders and couldn’t get close enough to pass them. I had to wait a few laps in order to feel confident and begin to overtake; when I saw Sam [Lowes] a little further ahead of me, I tried to catch him up and put in some fast laps to get a good pace going. I believed I could get back to a good position, but I clipped the white line with my front wheel and crashed. It’s a pity, but at least I tried to finish the race in order to understand what was going wrong and why my feeling wasn’t great. The weekend started in a very positive way and didn’t finish well, but it’s not the end of the world. Now we have to analyse what happened, look at the feeling I had and try to arrive strong for Mugello.”