Cruel end to French GP for Jake Dixon, crashes out while leading

2020-10-14 11:39
A dream maiden Moto2 victory for both Jake Dixon and PETRONAS Sprinta Racing was on the cards at the French GP today, but an anguish inducing Turn 14 crash on lap 20 prevented the dream from becoming a reality. Team-mate Xavi Vierge was also left wanting more from Le Mans, after crashing out on lap four.

Dixon made good progress off the line, moving up to sixth on the opening lap and fourth on the next. Capitalising on his team-mate’s mistake on lap three, the Brit made it past into second, before taking the lead by three seconds on lap seven. Jake rode with a mature head, taking no risks, and let the gap close, before extending it back out to around one second. He looked set to take his maiden Moto2 win, but disaster struck on lap 20 when a Turn 14 crash brought his race to a disheartening end.

Team-mate Vierge had a lightning quick start, immediately moving into second in the first corner. A small mistake on the third lap dropped him down to fourth, but the Spaniard soon recovered and moved himself into third on the following lap. Unfortunately Xavi’s French GP came to an end on lap four, after a Turn 10 highside. Vierge has fractured the big toe in his left foot, the fourth and fifth toes and lateral malleolus in his right foot; he will now undergo further medical checks in Barcelona ahead of the Aragon GP next weekend.

PETRONAS Sprinta Racing will be back in action next weekend (16-18 October), at the Gran Premio de Aragón – the second event of the October triple-header.






Johan Stigefelt
Team Director





It has been a tough weekend in Moto2, especially in the mixed conditions during the race. Before the start we could see there might be rain coming, but it was drying fast so we went with slick tyres, which was the right decision. Both Jake and Xavi were strong in the beginning, pushed hard and Jake managed to get past [Sam] Lowes to lead for the majority of the race. Unfortunately Xavi had a crash in the beginning; it wasn’t easy on track but he has been injured in this incident, which isn’t good.

Jake did an amazing job in controlling the race. It’s been a tough end to the weekend with Jake crashing with only a few laps to go. It was very hard to see this, but we take the positives with us that he was leading and controlling the race with a strong rival behind him. This is racing though and this is how it is sometimes, we have to accept it and move forward from it. We look forward to Aragón now and hopefully be strong again.

Source: SIC Racing Team

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