Moto2: Elias wins as rivals crash out
Toni Elias took a comfortable second consecutive Moto2 victory at Le Mans as all his nearest rivals fell or hit trouble, leaving him to beat Julian Simon by 1.3 seconds
With pre-race championship leader Shoya Tomizawa among those having accidents, the result puts Elias to the head of the standings.
Elias was part of a large group of riders battling for the lead at first, but was the last man standing within just seven laps.
Alex Debon had led briefly but was given a jump-start penalty and could only recover to 16th.
Next to go was Tech 3's Yuki Takahashi, who fell when running a close fourth.
That left Elias fighting with polesitter Kenny Noyes and local favourite Jules Cluzel at the front, until Noyes crashed out of third and then Cluzel fell at the first corner on lap seven, just after battling past Elias to take the lead.
By this time Tomizawa was also out, having fallen twice - the second time doing enough damage to end his race. The Japanese rider had already been stuck in the lower midfield following his poor qualifying result.
Another big name involved in an accident was the luckless Alex de Angelis, who was fortunate not to be injured when his bike was wiped out by the crashed machine of Xavier Simeon, which slid back across the track and collected de Angelis.
Simon did his best to keep Elias under pressure but had to settle for second - still a good result for his first race on the Suter chassis.
Simone Corsi escaped from Andrea Iannone to complete the podium.
Gabor Talmacsi charged through from 19th on the grid to beat Sergio Gadea, Ratthapark Wilairot and Fonsi Nieto to fifth, while after crashing in qualifying Stefan Bradl recovered from 35th to ninth.
Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap 1. Toni Elias Moriwaki 43m29.277s 2. Julian Simon Suter + 1.336s 3. Simone Corsi Motobi + 2.831s 4. Andrea Iannone Speed Up + 4.880s 5. Gabor Talmacsi Speed Up + 13.293s 6. Sergio Gadea Pons Kalex + 13.415s 7. Ratthapark Wilairot Bimota + 14.294s 8. Fonsi Nieto Moriwaki + 14.554s 9. Stefan Bradl Suter + 23.503s 10. Roberto Rolfo Suter + 23.687s 11. Scott Redding Suter + 23.959s 12. Yonni Hernandez BQR + 24.955s 13. Lukas Pesek Moriwaki + 25.068s 14. Alex Baldolini ICP + 26.023s 15. Claudio Corti Suter + 28.765s 16. Alex Debon FTR + 32.240s 17. Niccolo Canepa Scot + 33.607s 18. Arne Tode Suter + 34.789s 19. Thomas Luthi Moriwaki + 43.180s 20. Mike di Meglio Suter + 43.522s 21. Vladimir Ivanov Moriwaki + 47.761s 22. Valentin Debise ADV + 51.571s 23. Robertino Pietri Suter + 59.692s 24. Joan Olive Promo Harris + 59.939s 25. Yannick Guerra Moriwaki + 1m07.377s 26. Anthony West MZ + 1m16.171s 27. Vladimir Leonov Suter + 1m16.528s 28. Mashel Al Naimi BQR + 1m20.977s 29. Bernat Martinez Bimota + 1m22.982s 30. Dominique Agerter Suter + 2 laps Retirements: Hector Faubel Suter 16 laps Mattia Pasini Motobi 7 laps Shoya Tomizawa Suter 7 laps Jules Cluzel Suter 6 laps Xavier Simeon Moriwaki 6 laps Alex de Angelis Scot 6 laps Raffaele de Rosa Tech 3 5 laps Axel Pons Pons Kalex 5 laps Kenny Noyes Promo Harris 4 laps Yuki Takahashi Tech 3 4 laps Karel Abraham FTR 1 lap
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