12/05/2024

Veijer conquers Le Mans podium in P3, Suzuki scores with P9

In front of thousands and thousands of racing enthusiasts, the LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto3 team fought a fierce battle at the French Grand Prix. First and foremost Collin Veijer, who, after leading for some time, snatched a strong third place and thus his second podium in a row. Tatsuki Suzuki crossed the finish line of the Bugatti Circuit in ninth place.

With some hair-raising manoeuvres, Dutch shooting star Collin Veijer once again proved to be a tough nut to crack in the Moto3 field. Right from the start, the 19-year-old made his way to the front, where his clean attacks were met with some tricky manoeuvres from Daniel Holgado and David Alonso. The attempt to increase the pace while in the lead and pull away was fended off by his close pursuers and so Veijer pushed hard to maintain the pace. Veijer eventually finished a strong third, just 0.242s behind race winner David Alonso, taking home another podium and 16 valuable championship points to consolidate his 3rd place in the world championship.

During the twenty laps of the French Grand Prix, Tatsuki Suzuki was consistently within the leading group, which reached up to the 14th position. At the start of the race, the Japanese rider even set the fastest lap and managed to fight his way up to ninth position. But the tough competition was relentless, which is why he was unable to make any further progress. His ninth place gives the 26-year-old seven more championship points and keeps him in eleventh place in the world championship, just one point behind the top 10.

The duo from the only remaining German racing team in the world championship will be competing in the sixth round of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from the 24th - 26th of May.

RESULTS

Race
1. David ALONSO/ COL/ CFMOTO
2. Daniel HOLGADO/ SPA/ GASGAS – (+0.105)
3. Collin VEIJER/ NED/ HUSQVARNA – (+0.242)
9. Tatsuki SUZUKI/ JPN/ HUSQVARNA – (+1.101)

World Championship
1. HOLGADO Daniel/ SPA – 94
2. ALONSO David/ COL – 93
3. VEIJER Collin/ NED – 62
11. SUZUKI Tatsuki/ JPN – 30

Team classification
1. CFMOTO ASPAR TEAM – 126
2. RED BULL GASGAS TECH3 – 121
3. LIQUI MOLY HUSQVARNA INTACT GP – 92

Collin Veijer

P3 - (+0.242)
Moto3 World Championship 2024 - P3 - 62 Points

"My start wasn't perfect, but better than in Jerez as we practiced it during the test. I tried to stay calm and be consistent in the early stages of the race. Then I tried to keep the pace of the guys in front and still not do anything crazy. The last lap was a bit difficult for me because I struggled a bit on the right side and I had problems on the corner entry; maybe we need to manage the tyres better on the last laps and straighten the bike earlier. Overall, the feeling was good and I'm happy to be back on the podium."

Tatsuki Suzuki

P9 - (+1.101)
Moto3 World Championship 2024 - P11 - 30 Points

"I'm happy with my race! Unfortunately, I made a mistake in turns three and four right after the start. That cost me a lot of positions and it was quite difficult to make up ground in the first five laps. But as soon as I overtook the second group, I was fast and caught up with the leading riders. From then on, I rode a strong race. So, Le Mans was definitely a positive weekend for us, even though I certainly need to improve my qualifying. But overall, we are coming."

Peter Öttl

Team Manager

"Le Mans was another successful weekend for us. We had good weather conditions throughout, and the results started to improve on Friday. Collin was able to confirm this with fifth place on the grid, even though things didn't go quite as well for Tatsuki on Saturday. Nevertheless, he qualified for Q2 via Q1. That was important for his grid position as 14th on the grid. In general, we had a good starting position with the second and fifth rows on the grid. Collin drove another great race. He was always in the leading group and was also in the lead a few times. The fact that he finished on the podium again was very important for all of us and a nice success again. He was also able to confirm his victory from Jerez and consolidate third place in the championship.
Tatsuki also put in a solid performance. After a mistake on the first lap, however, he was able to work his way up to ninth place. In the end, he was even close to the leading group and was able to ride at the same pace as the leaders. This is confirmation of the work we are all doing together. With ninth place, he also made his contribution to a very good team result. It's good to have a weekend off so that we can hopefully get back together in two weeks' time and continue on our successful path."

Moto3 Pictures Le Mans Grand Prix 2024

Back