French GP – 250cc Report & Results

Well, in the end I suppose it wasn’t too bad a race.
The way Alvaro shrugged when he got back to the pits pretty much mirrored my feelings about how it had all gone.
It could certainly have gone better (especially with the end result being a top points haul for Sideshow Bob) but, to be fair, it could also have gone a lot worse.
It started out a lot worse of course, with Bati dropping places left right and centre throughout the first lap, crossing the line into lap 2 way down in 11th place.
And it was a happy mix of some top dicing in mixed conditions, coupled with a degree of attrition, that saw Alvaro back up in 4th spot by the end of the race.

And although Sideshow gets 25 points, it’s nonetheless kind of nice to see that Hiro Aoyama was way down and that the 4th spot actually sees Alvaro slip into the lead of the overall Championship table ahead of Aoyama.

Alvaro never seems to have really got it together at Le Mans – and certainly not in the wet; so let’s chalk it up as a decent if not brilliant day.
Here’s the results in full…

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 49m07.591s
2. Hector Faubel Honda + 18.128s
3. Roberto Locatelli Gilera + 21.642s
4. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 31.087s
5. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda + 50.497s
6. Raffaele de Rosa Honda + 56.366s
7. Lukas Pesek Aprilia +1m16.025s
8. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda +1m22.882s
9. Imre Toth Aprilia +1m35.556s
10. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia +1m47.990s
11. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 1 lap
12. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 1 lap
13. Valentin Debise Honda + 1 lap
14. Toby Markham Honda + 1 lap

Retirements:
Alex Debon Aprilia 21 laps
Alex Baldolini Aprilia 18 laps
Thomas Luthi Aprilia 18 laps
Mike di Meglio Aprilia 10 laps
Mattia Pasini Aprilia 4 laps
Axel Pons Aprilia 3 laps
Aitor Rodriguez Aprilia 3 laps
Angel Rodriguez Aprilia 2 laps
Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1 lap
Bastien Chesaux Honda 0 laps