close right up on Bagnaia in the
points standings, now only one
point behind his great friend
from the VR46 Academy, 93-94.
Binder lies third at 81 ahead of
Martin's 80 and Zarco's 66.
Moto2
Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS
Racing Team) took an important
victory for his championship cam-
paign as he commanded the race
from
the front putting the pres-
sure on title rival Pedro Acosta
(Red
Bull KTM Ajo), who crashed
out on second place while trying
to reel in the Italian at the front.
Filip Salac (QJMotor Gresini
Moto2) closed in on the Mar-
cVDS rider as the checkered flag
near
faultless race, staying out
of trouble and working his way
up the field as the others fell
around him. He was rewarded
with a career-best fourth place
ahead of Aleix Espargaro, Bind-
er, Quartararo, Fabio Di Giannan-
tonio (Gresini Racing Ducati),
Nakagami and
Franco Morbidelli
(Monster Energy Yamaha).
"I'm so happy," Fernandez
said. "After the quali, I had the
crash in the Sprint and then also
in warm-up, so I was missing
some confidence, but I knew I
had the pace to fight for some-
thing in the race. I wasn't ex-
pecting this though! I made the
right choice with the front
tire."
Bezzecchi's win sees him
Despite the crash, Marquez
was happy with his race. "I was
able to ride like I rode a long time
ago and I was really able to enjoy
being on the bike," Marquez said.
"Unfortunately, the final result is
not what we wanted, but I spent
the whole race fighting and push-
ing the limit."
His
crash put home hero
Zarco onto the podium in third
but there was no catching Bez-
zecchi, who cruised home to
an almost easy
4.2-second win
over Martin and Zarco.
The man of the race was ar-
guably Augusto Fernandez (Gas-
Gas Factory Racing Tech3). The
current
Moto2 World Champion
and 2023 MotoGP rookie rode a
ROUND 5 / MAY 12-14, 2023
LE MANS / LE MANS, FRANCE
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P86
Tony Arbolino's Moto2 victory
gave the Italian a 25-point
lead in the series.
