MotoGP

The Monster Energy Grand Prix de France was host to another dominating Lorenzo victory while an intense battle for fourth burned.

Fortunately rain was nowhere to be seen in Le Mans, setting the stage for an exciting and eventful MotoGP™ race. The French GP comes after a post race test in Jerez and many riders arrived in France with new confidence, direction and parts. Bradley Smith was one such rider, running new front forks this weekend and leading FP2 on Friday.

Round five of the MotoGP™ World Championship also saw Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa return to the grid, the Spaniard having missed three rounds after having surgery to cure arm pump issues. Returning for Jerez had been a possibility, but a test on a Supermoto bike had Pedrosa and his Repsol Honda crew air on the side of caution and wait until Le Mans.

Lorenzo appeared strong again this weekend, as he had done in Jerez, despite saying that his third on the grid was one of the worst qualifying results of his career. A lightning start allowed the Spaniard to break away early, quickly able to pass Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati and focus on riding his own race. One of Lorenzo’s strongest areas is his ability to run at the front and set incredibly consistent lap times when not having to battle with other riders. As in Jerez, Lorenzo demonstrated this incredible skill and was nearly untouchable. “I could overtake Dovizioso early and stay in the lead. I had to manage the one second gap and I had to push really hard even though the front feeling wasn’t great,” he said.

This makes it back-to-back wins for Lorenzo and reignites his championship hopes after many had begun to doubt the Spaniard. The MotoGP™ paddock heads next to Mugello, a favourite track of Lorenzo and one that has seen several outstanding rides from the Movistar Yamaha rider. On his current form he will be difficult to match.

While Lorenzo was surging ahead, Marc Marquez had a difficult start to the race, dropping as low as sixth before finding his form in the closing stages.

The Spaniard quickly caught Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith ahead, leading to a fiery battle between Marquez and Iannone. The duo swapped positions at nearly every corner, giving spectators flashbacks of their Moto2™ days. The performance of Iannone was particularly impressive as he dislocated his left shoulder less than a week ago at a private Ducati test at Mugello. Marquez eventually came out on top as Iannone’s lap times dropped off significantly in the final three laps, no doubt feeling the pain in his shoulder.

While the battle tore on behind, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi had a brief battle, the Yamaha rider coming out on top. Issues in Jerez saw Dovizioso finish off the podium for the first time this year, this third at Le Mans is important for the Ducati rider’s championship as he sits in second with 67 points, just five more than Lorenzo. “The grip after ten laps was not great, I struggled a bit. I couldn’t gain much in the braking. I didn’t have Lorenzo’s pace though. To return to the podium is important for the championship and us,” reflected Dovizioso after the race.

Charging through the field, Rossi seemed as though he may be able to catch his teammate but the gap never dropped below one and a half seconds. It had been a less than ideal start to the weekend for the Italian as he and his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team struggled with finding a good setting. Big risks in changes to the set up of Rossi’s M1 paid off come the race as he once again extended his championship lead, now 15 points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. “We suffered a lot during practice because I couldn’t ride to the limit. We risked more with the set up for the race and I felt very good. It took a couple of laps to understand it fully,” said Rossi.

Le Mans was a difficult race for many of the British riders, both Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding fell from the race in what was an overall disappointing weekend for many of the Honda bikes. The higher track temperatures on race day having a negative impact for the Honda riders who struggled for front end feel. Bradley Smith did well to finish in sixth behind the dueling pair of Iannone and Marquez after a strong showing earlier in the week. There were also reasons to celebrate for rookie Eugene Laverty, the Irishman scoring his first MotoGP™ points as he finished in 14th and as the second Open Honda bike.

The Open category was led by Nicky Hayden, the American also qualifying as the highest Open rider. He and Jack Miller had battled during the early stages of the race, but the Australian fell as he existed Turn 4. Local rider Loris Baz also finished in the points in 12th, taking his best ever MotoGP™ finish in front of a cheering crowd.

Miller was not the only rider to fall as he existed Turn 4, returning Dani Pedrosa also took a tumble there. The Spaniard was unhurt and remounted to finish in 16th, some 15 seconds out of the points. Stefan Bradl was another early faller as he continues to adapt to the Yamaha Forward machine. Both Aleix Espargaro and Karel Abraham were forced into the pits with technical issues, ending their races early.

 

Moto2

 

Alex Rins started from pole for the first time in his Moto2™ career but made a poor start, dropping down to ninth off the line. It was home hero Johann Zarco who led in the early stages of the race, initially looking as though he could escape at the front but eventually Luthi caught and passed the Frenchman. From lap five onwards Luthi went unopposed in the lead, taking a comfortable win of over one and a half seconds, his second in the Moto2™ class. “In the beginning I felt good and the bike worked well straight away. I felt like I had a little stronger pace than Johann but he was very strong on the brakes. It was a long race for us but we’ve made a good start and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season,” he said.

The Marc VDS team hardly saw Tito Rabat during Friday and Saturday practice as the Spaniard put in long 27 lap runs in the majority of sessions. What was most impressive about this was the pace Rabat was able to maintain even on worn tyres, frequently putting in his fastest lap of the session towards the end of a race simulation run. Rabat’s race did not get off to an ideal start however, as once again he had trouble on the opening laps as he was pushed wide while battling for positions. The reigning Moto2™ champion responded quickly and settled into a solid rhythm, lapping between 1’37.8 and 1’37.6 for the majority of the race.

This steady flow of high 1’37s saw Rabat close down Luthi in the final stages, but his battle with Zarco had him too far behind to catch the Swiss rider. Rabat sits sixth in the standings, 36 points behind Zarco. “I made a normal start but at the beginning I had to wait behind Zarco. When his tyres went down I was faster and I was better through T1. Congratulations to Luthi for his win. I’m happy because we’re back on track and on the correct lines,” said a pleased Rabat.

With the Championship lead to consider, Zarco did not take any extra risks in his home race and settled into third after his attempt to break away early. “The target was the victory, I had a good start and I took the chance to lead and try to run away. Luthi and Tito were both strong, Tito especially at the end. I don’t think I used too much tyre, Rabat was just more comfortable and carried more corner speed. I didn’t want to crash so I settled for third and the podium. I’m still leading the championship, so perfect!”. Zarco now has a 21 point lead over Luthi, with Folger dropping to third having failed to finish the French GP.

While the podium positions were settled, other spots inside the top ten certainly weren’t. Sam Lowes was safe in fourth, lamenting his tyre gamble as he was just 0.3s from a podium finish at the end of the race. The British rider continues to be the only Speed Up frame amongst the group of Kalex bikes in the top ten of the Moto2™ standings.

Franco Morbidelli once again finished in fifth, his fourth fifth of the season so far. Both Alex Rins and Luis Salom fell while battling with the aggressive Italian, Salom and his bike rolling over Morbidelli as the pair came into contact. It was a difficult weekend for the Paginas Armarillas HP 40 team after Rins’ pole with both their riders crashing. Rins eventually remounted to finish 17th.

There was also disappointment for Alex Marquez who crashed along with Louis Rossi. The move up to Moto2™ has been difficult for the younger Marquez, having had a high number of crashes in testing and practice sessions. Despite struggles early in the weekend this is the first race in which Marquez has failed to score points. Mika Kallio was another faller. All riders were uninjured.

 

Moto3

 

Rain fell during the opening minutes of Qualifying on Saturday for the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France resulting in several favourites such as Danny Kent, Efren Vazquez and Brad Binder all qualifying down the grid. Fortunately the skies were clear come Sunday in Le Mans, but this still left a lot of work many riders to do. There was no doubt going to be incident into the first chicane with so many riders eager to impress thanks to surprise high position on the grid or make up spots having failed to set an early fast lap.

Brad Binder, Remy Gardner and Gabriel Rodrigo were all victims of this added pressure as they fell going in to the chicane. Efren Vazquez suffered a quick highside as he existed, ending any hopes of recovering points after his disastrous Qualifying. Whilst this was happening, Andrea Antonelli and Enea Beastianini had all made very fast starts and joined the leading group in the early stages having started seventh and 18th respectively. They were joined by Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Romano Fenati, all who had started inside the top five.

The battle for the victory became an exclusively Italian affair as Fabio Quartararo crashed out of his home Grand Prix as he exited Turn 4, just as Vazquez and several others had done. With both Quartararo and Vazquez out, Danny Kent was put in a comfortable situation with none of his main championship rivals looking set to score points in France. Despite this the Britain continued to push, having joined the front group in the closing stages from 30th on the grid. The ride demonstrated his ability to come back from adversity, the Brit having already demonstrated his ability to lead from the front in Austin and Argentina.

It would be the Italian trio of Fenati, Bastianini and Bagnaia who would see Kent finish off the podium for the first time this season. Romano Fenati took his and KTM’s first win of the season having spent the entire race battling with his compatriots on the Honda and the Mahindra. “The start of the season was hard, the bike wasn’t perfect and the performance was less. We worked very hard every time and today we have the victory. The bike was perfect today and in the last lap the tyre was ok. In Jerez the tyre was gone after 5 laps so we’ve improved a lot,” said the SKY Racing Team VR46 rider.

Bastianini has now made a habit of coming back from poor grid positions to claim podium finishes, having performed a similar feat in Qatar at the season opener. “It’s a very difficult race today. My start was nice and I was always pushing to the max this race. In the last laps I had too much movement so the win wasn’t possible,” he reflected. He moves into second in the championship with 67 points, but it 37 behind Danny Kent as the Brit takes a firm lead in the Moto3™ Championship.

 

Source: motogp.com