Rory Skinner says he will pick himself up and learn lessons from a tough French Moto2 weekend at Le Mans, the Scot battling illness prior to crashing out in the race.

Another new circuit for Skinner to learn in what has been a steep learning curve in his rookie Moto2 season, two crashes in Friday Practice got the weekend off to an inauspicious start.

With a virus laying Skinner low too, the former BSB rider went on to qualify 26th and was running on the edge of the top twenty after a good start, but hopes of a first point were scuppered by a tumble on lap five.

Despite the frustrating end to the weekend, the American Racing rider feels he is making notable progress a quarter of the way into his rookie season.

“The weekend has been very up and down. Obviously starting off the weekend with two crashes wasn’t ideal and I’ve felt quite under the weather for a large majority of the weekend but that is what it is, so I just had to get on with that.

“It was good after Qualifying, we made some good steps in it on my own and I felt quite good going into the race in both starts, the original and the restart – I got a good launch off the line in both and got into a good group and was settling in for the race but the crash in the restart wasn’t great as it was a fairly sizeable highside straight to my face – I’ll be feeling that one for a few days – also my wrist is a little sore as I’ve aggravated an old injury.

“I’m happy with the progress we’re making, it is coming – I know I’ve said that every weekend, but it is and we’re making steps in the right direction, it’s just taking a little longer than I originally anticipated.”