Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) with the number 5 in the middle of the bunch – from the second half of the race, however, he was undisputedly the man of the race when he moved up to second place and wisely refrained from attacking the leading Miller in the end. Hardly any of the so-called experts would have thought the French would have such a start into the season.

Some interesting numbers about the French Grand Prix

It was undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and varied races of recent times, which the fans could watch on the monitors at home. The fourth ghost race in a row offered something for almost every taste. There was also a change in leadership in the team and manufacturer classification. And after 3 Yamaha victories at the beginning of the season, Jack Miller came to a triumph twice in a row that required a good deal of luck. In Jerez he inherited the top position without having to fight for it when Fabio Quartararo had fallen behind with physical problems (the so-called compartment syndrome). At Le Mans, it was Marc Marquez’s fall and Johann Zarco’s failed start that made the Australian’s job relatively easier. Be that as it may, almost everyone will have given Jack his third career win.

The new Marc Marquez – from “King of Saves” to break pilot on duty. The first races after his comeback, the multiple world champion had certainly imagined differently than with a seventh and then ninth place. At the third round of the World Championship since his forced break for a good 9 months, he crashed the first time while in the lead. In his subsequent race to catch up, he produced what was already the third fall this Sunday.

The head-to-head race in the team and manufacturer championship
It’s amazing how quickly the headlines change so often in sports. At first a Yamaha won three times and Miller was nowhere, then suddenly the tide suddenly turned in Jerez. It was enough for the Australian to win again ahead of Johann Zarco and suddenly nobody is talking about the good Yamaha any more. Contributing to this is the memory of a majority of experts and journalists, which usually hardly exists. In fact, the two currently strongest of all brands are still very close to each other. As the following statistics show, this also applies to the team classification, where Monster Energy Yamaha lost much of its lead in one fell swoop in Jerez. The turning point came at Le Mans, but the two best works teams and manufacturers are currently only separated by a few points.

After the start in Le Mans, Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo) with the number 43 was already in front and behind Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha, number 20) was his compatriot Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati with the number 5). His race to catch up was in the end perhaps the most impressive performance of all on May 16, 2021, rich in surprises.

The Le Mans balance sheet of the various drivers after the Grand Prix of 2021
As for the average number of points scored on the Bugatti Circuit, before the 2021 GP, hardly anyone would have bet that Alex Marquez would keep his lead from 20 points. But in the crazy flag-to-flag race on May 16, there was basically no normalcy. But like the majority of all drivers, his record had deteriorated compared to before. Only Jack Miller, the two French Zarco and Quartararo, as well as Lecuona, Bagnaia and Nakagami were able to improve their average. Second best behind the LCR Honda driver is Petrux, although his average has dropped slightly, followed by Johann Zarco and, with the same score, his compatriot Fabio Quartararo and Valentino Rossi.

The year 2020 on an orange background means that this run has already started as a rain race. It is also impressive how often Repsol Honda ace Marc Marquez has crashed during this period and also Pol’s brother Aleix Espargaró, as well as Jack Miller with 3 falls in the race.

The fairy tale of bad Le Mans weather in May

In the MotoGP paddock there are many born fairytale uncles, as we know. For example, Ducati Manager Paolo Ciabatti, who seriously said before the first double race in Qatar that Losail was a Ducati track. After the victory of the two Monster Energy Yamaha team-mates Maverick and Fabio, Ducati has exactly half as many victories as Yamaha, this is what the Italian claims. The myth of the supposedly uncompetitive Honda RC213V has several godparents, from Bradl to countless journalists and commentators to Puig. Whining is definitely part of everyday life in the paddock, but the reasons are sometimes more and sometimes less obvious. So because of the bad weather, the story of the supposedly persistent bad weather at the Bugatti Circuit in May had to be repeated. But the average temperature there is a moderate 20 degrees Celsius in the bliss month. It rained exactly three times in the ten years from 2010 to 2019, so the rate is just 30 percent. Below are the facts including the number of spectators in comparison with the other GP courses.

The rain statistics from 1995 to 2020 by nation – here Le Mans is in the upper midfield, but only thanks to 2020 ahead of Brno, before that there was still a tie and, as far as we know, there were seldom or never complaints about the date and certainly not in the race in the Czech Republic. In Spain, all events are combined, which in the case of Valencia clearly distorts the picture because, for example, the rate from 2010 to 2019 is 30 percent and thus exactly as high as for Le Mans.
Le Mans in comparison with other tracks, in bold the respective visitor record and in italics the rain races since 2005 until the end of the spectator permit due to the corona pandemic.

Moto2 and the dominance of the Ajo team

Often we don’t know whether to find it good or sad. When KTM got into Moto2, we were among the enthusiastic observers. There is also an orange in our fleet. A well-known manufacturer is finally getting involved, after Eskil Suter withdrew, we thought immediately. The entry, accompanied by a good deal of self-praise on the part of the Austrian company, should be the basis for a final commitment to MotoGP. In MotoGP, however, there was a huge problem and after only two and a half years KTM pulled the plug again. We don’t want to repeat the excuses here, but on the weekend when this was announced, Brad Binder won the first race of the 2019 season with it. In the following year, Aki Ajo’s team on the previous competitor Kalex was third behind Sky in the team standings VR46 and EG 0.0 Marc VDS.

Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3) in Aragon in 2020 – after good results at the beginning of the season, its star finally began to rise on the track near the small town of Alcaniz with the first podium. A year later, he is also completely convincing in the middle class.

From the losing team to the challenger and to the winning team
After a disastrous Moto3 season for the Finn’s team last year, redemption came with Raul Fernandez in the first Corona year. Today we are always amazed how everyone reads and hears about the extremely successful Ajo talent factory, because 2019 was still the absolute disaster for Ajo KTM. With just 8 points, the Red Bull Ajo KTM team carried the red lantern, a full 16 points behind Reale Avintia in 15th place and thus second from bottom. It was the absolute losing team of the season, which only a year later, thanks to the young Spaniard, became the challenger of the best. Thanks to Pedro Acosta, Aki Ajo and his Moto3 team are the absolutely dominant group in the junior category only two years after the bottom. Thanks to Remy Gardner and Fernandez in the middle class as well. As we were the first to report at the beginning of April, the Australian will compete in MotoGP next season. At the moment he is still fighting for the Moto2 title with the Spaniard. Below is the current Moto2 team ranking.

Moto3 team classification – Part 2 of the Aki Ajo success story

We still remember how the Finn, who is often considered a sinister, caught our eye two years ago when he was sitting alone in the dining area in a corner. He nodded to us in a very friendly way when we came out of the restaurant, but at the time definitely looked very contrite in Andalusia. We nodded back just as politely and understood his mood. His Moto3 team was the absolute problem child this year. After Jerez there should be another 4 laps in which his drivers did not collect a single point. Just two years later, his two teams have almost twice as many points as their closest rivals in their respective classes.

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – the only 16-year-old Spaniard is currently the absolute high-flyer and most are already treating him as the new Marc Marquez. However, we advise caution, see the career of Lorenzo dalla Porta, the dominator of 2019. Last year he was twenty-seventh in the World Cup, and currently he is 22nd with 6 points. The majority of journalists never learn from it, just like many external or self-appointed experts.

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© MotoGP).