Guevara takes convincing win ahead of Gonzalez and Ortola

The Le Mans circuit was the scene this weekend as the fifth round of the Moto2 World Championship in 2026 took place. The qualifying sessions on Saturday afternoon took place on a dry track, and saw Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) take his first pole position in the class with a new lap record. Joining him on the front row of the grid were Dani Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) and Filip Salac (OnlyFans American Racing Team).  

Barry Baltus (REDS Fantic Racing), championship leader Manuel Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP), and Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team) lined up on row two, with David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team), Alonso Lopez (ITALJET Gresini Moto2), and Celestino Vietti (Folladore SpeedRS Team) on the third row of the grid.

Senna Agius (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) – winner of the last two races –found himself in 11^th place on the grid as lap times were so tight.

As race day rolled around, so too did the rain that had been threatening all weekend. A heavy downpour before the Moto3 race meant that the Moto2 race was declared wet and reduced to 14 laps from 22 in spite of a dry race line all the way around the Le Mans track.

The riders lined up on the grid following an extended sighting lap period to allow for familiarisation with the track conditions, and as the lights went out, Guevara made the most of his pole position and took the lead of the race ahead of Holgado and Gonzalez.

Holgado suffered a big high-side crash on the opening lap, but was up on his feet and walking away while his teammate Alonso moved up to 6^th at the expense of Joe Roberts. As Guevara continued to lead at the front of the race, Jorge Navarro (KLINT Racing Team) crashed on the pit straight. Although Navarro was able to walk away from the scene, his bike was stranded on the edge of the track and so the race was red flagged as the leaders started the third lap.

The riders returned to the pits as Navarro’s bike was recovered, and then they took to the grid for a 9-lap restart. In the meantime, the Aspar team had managed to get Holgado’s bike back and repaired in time for him to make it out of pitlane and join the restarted race with just ten seconds to spare. He was missing his front mud guard though!

The second race was declared dry and the lights were out again. Guevara once again made a great start to lead into turn 1, with Holgado right behind him. Salac was wide and had to run through the gravel early on, while Vietti bumped into Baltus sending him crashing into the gravel and ending what had so far been a positive weekend for the Belgian. Vietti was handed – and duly completed – a long lap penalty for his part in the crash.

As Guevara started trying to pull away at the front of the race, Alonso attempted to pass teammate Holgado, but he misjudged it and ran them both wide.

Lap two saw a rare mistake from Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who crashed and took Dani Muñoz (Italtrans Racing Team) with him – ending both of their races. The incident was to be reviewed after the race. Agius was trying to make his way through the pack, but the riders around him were not making things easy for him. There was lots of jostling for position between Alonso, Roberts, Sergio Garcia (ITALJET Gresini Moto2), Salac, Ayumu Sasaki (Momoven Idrofoglia RW Racing Team), Vietti, and Agius himself.

As Sasaki crashed out at the end of the fourth laps, things were beginning to settle down at the front as Guevara had extended his lead to over 1 second from Gonzalez and Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – El Motorista – MSI) – who had had a great ride from 14^th on the grid.

Over the closing laps, Gonzalez and Guevara played a cat and mouse game as Gonzalez closed the gap to below a second only for Guevara to respond and extend it to back over a second. Gonzalez put in a valiant effort, but it was not enough to catch Guevara who wheelied across the line to take his first victory (and third podium) of the season.

He was followed across the line by Gonzalez and Ortola, with Lopez, Alonso, Vietti, Agius, Roberts, Salac, and Aron Canet (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) rounding out the top ten.

Victory in France has moved Guevara to second in the championship standings – 9.5 points behind leader Gonzalez, and 11 points ahead of Agius who drops to third.

Moto2 returns to action for the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalunya next weekend (15^th – 17^th May).

Featured Image: yamahamotogp.com