125cc France MotoGP
Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) claimed his first ever victory in the 125cc MotoGP class in just his fourth race by beating Nicolás Terol (Bankia Aspar) on the final lap at in a thrilling race long battle at Le Mans, France.
Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) was third Sunday at 125cc France MotoGP.
Under ominous black clouds and in very cool conditions, the race was run without the predicted rain. The 125cc Rookie Viñales who achieved his best qualifying result of his rookie campaign with third place on the front row, pressurised the championship leader from the start and was the only rider able to match his pace throughout the race.
The 16-year old 125cc MotoGP rider had finished fourth in Portugal, passed Terol who appeared to let the youngster through mid way through the race.
Mind games between the front two were deployed as Viñales then returned the favour to allow the Spaniard back through. A difference of 96 race starts separated the dice at the front, with the teenager only competing in his fourth race, compared to Terol making his 100th race start.
The leading duo pulled a large advantage of six seconds over the next group of Vázquez and co. The 22 year old regained control of the lead of the race with four laps to go but Viñales had other ideas on the final lap of the 125cc race when he was able to get the better of the pole sitter and cross the line just five hundredths of a second in front of the Bankia Aspar rider.
After collecting 20 points, Terol still has a massive lead in the championship standings, with a 35 125cc point advantage over Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany).
Vázquez, fourth in Qatar and with two podiums to his name in the 125cc class, took the final spot on the rostrum and his first podium of the season after he had been involved in a six rider fight for the podium. Vázquez made it an all Spanish rostrum and the top four places at this race in Le Mans were all Spanish, with Terol’s Bankia Aspar team mate finishing in fourth position which was his best result of the year after several crashes in the previous races.
Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) flying the flag for his home fans, made a disastrous start which dropped him down the order, but the Frenchman climbed his way back up the order and narrowly missed out on achieving his third successive rostrum.
Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) who has had two rostrums in his 125cc career was sixth after being involved in the group of riders contending for third place. After a decent start Cortese, the German rider had to settle for seventh place, but remains in second in the championship. Team mate to rookie victor Viñales, Sergio Gadea (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) finished in eighth.
Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Team Andalucía Banca Cívica) finished ninth after starting outside of the top ten and it was Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) who secured the final place in the top 10.
Alexis Masbou (WTR-Ten10 Racing) who was replacing Sarath Kumar (WTR-Ten10 Racing) who is racing in the Spanish championship this weekend, produced a noteable performance by finishing 15th and scoring the last point on offer.
