After an uncertain season, Salač is the biggest sensation of Moto2. Now all he needs is a win

On Sunday, only six tenths of a second separated the 21-year-old competitor from becoming one of the legends of Czechoslovak and Czech motorcycle sports by winning the French Grand Prix of the middle category of the World Championship. So far, only František Šťastný, Lukáš Pešek and Karel Abraham have achieved victory in the Grand Prix.

In the Grand Prix of France in the Moto2 class, Salač took second place after a brave fight. Even though championship leader Toni Arbolino was beyond his strength, the QJmotor Gresini Racing driver was beaming with happiness.

“This was probably the most amazing race of my career and I thank everyone behind me. I enjoyed every lap and had no problem,” he said at the finish.

At that moment, all the struggles he had experienced in the last year and a half must have gone through his head. “Last year was a difficult year. I didn’t know if I would be able to continue this year. But I thank Nadia and everyone in the team for giving me a chance,” he recalled the not-so-ideal debut year in Moto2, after which Gresini team boss Nadia Padovaniová allowed him to continue in her colors for the next season as well.

To add to the problems, Salače suffered from pain in her right forearm. He finally got rid of it before the weekend race at the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans.

A beloved French circuit

The health relief came at the right time, because the native of Mladá Boleslav can do it on the French track. It was here in 2021 that he climbed the podium for the first time, when he was second in the Moto3 race. At that time, he was 2.3 seconds away from first place.

Last year, he could only dream of such successes for a long time. On the new, more powerful bike, he was mainly troubled by the starts, after which he had to struggle forward. In the first half of the season, he collected only eight points and many fans broke the stick over him.

But then came a recovery and another 37 points. He achieved his greatest success in Thailand, where in a crazy wet race full of falls, he “scooted” his bike and finished second. Although it was a shortened Grand Prix with half the points allocation, there was still something to celebrate. By the way, even then only the Italian Arbolino beat him.

It was a completely different story at Le Mans this Sunday. A beautiful sunny day attracted a record number of visitors to the 1000th jubilee race in the history of the world championship, and after the restart of the Grand Prix, Salač unmistakably headed for the top three.

Then, when the Spanish rider Pedro Acosta dropped out of the leading pair, the motorcyclist in the blue-red colors of Gresini slowly but surely began to approach the leader of the race.

Salač caught the attention of fans and commentators of the official broadcast of the race precisely with his speed transformed into regularly top times. “Salač is the biggest sensation of this year’s Moto2 season,” was broadcast to English-speaking viewers around the world.

The tire lasted, it was possible to celebrate

Salač described Sunday’s race as the best in his career so far. Already because, unlike Thailand’s Buriram, he was able to finish second under standard conditions and on tires without a pattern.

“I already have one second place from last year, but that was on the water and it can’t be compared to today’s race at all. This is the first silver on dry land and I think I will remember this year’s Le Mans for a long time,” declared the fourth man in the world championship standings .

“I was worried about the degradation of the rear tire, but due to the shortened race, the rubber held up,” added Salač about the condition of his Dunlop tires, referring to the crash shortly after the first start, which was followed by an interruption and a shortened race to 14 laps.

He will have another chance to stand on the top step after almost a month’s break on June 11 in Mugello, Italy.