MotoGP Grand Prix of Le Mans in the live blog
Qualifying was already a thriller, but on race day the starter, main course and dessert will follow. It starts at 11 a.m. local time and a new winner in Moto3 wouldn’t be a surprise. With the world championship leader in 21st place on the grid, it is particularly difficult for one of the two drivers who have been on top of the podium with Pedro Acosta. His KTM Ajo team-mate Jaume Masia has a much easier time starting from row one, but the competition is very numerous and strong. In the middle class everything is still completely open and last year’s winner Sam Lowes definitely has a tough time starting from 10th place. It is just as difficult for those from MotoGP as it is for the World Championship leader in Moto3. Row 6 makes the French GP a mammoth task for Pecco Bagnaia. In comparison, the two local heroes Zarco and Quartararo, who will start the race from pole position, have a much easier time. The following are the starting positions of the various classes, which alone guarantees a lot of excitement.
Marc Marquez crashed in warm-up
At Turn 3 it almost looked as if he had dropped inward early to avoid a highsider take-off. In any case, Marc Marquez then slipped away with his Honda and his warm-up was ended prematurely. The track was very wet and shortly afterwards, his former archenemy Valentino Rossi set the fourth-fastest time. The fastest in the warm-up was, unsurprisingly, Danilo Petrucci, one of the rain specialists ahead of Miller, Oliveira, Bagnaia, Mir, Zarco and Rossi.
The race of Moto3 – Victory for Sergio Garcia ahead of Salac and Rossi
The start is scheduled for 11 a.m. local time. Apparently Carlos Tatay’s bike didn’t start and pushing it didn’t help. The Spaniard is threatened with a start from the pit lane or even without the race if they cannot clear it up soon, and he is on the starting grid. The field went on the warm-up lap for the first rain race of the season and Carlos Tatay was allowed to follow out of the pit lane.
The start of the Moto3 race
Migno loses lying at the top the line in the first chicane and then re-positions himself from the front to P5. Initially, Antonelli leads in front of Masia ,, Salac, Rossi, Migno and Rodrigo. Antonelli is the first to have a crash and a little later Tatsuki Suzuki is also disappointed on the ground, the Japanese was only in 20th position after the crash. Now Alcoba was also the next and thus another of the best drivers of the beginning of the season. Shortly after Jaume Masia, his team-mate and world championship leader, Pedro Acosta, also crashes, who, unlike the former, can continue afterwards. At the exit from Garage Vert, Gabriel Rodrigo is the next to crash. Sergio Garcia, Salac, Rossi, Sasaki, McPhee, Yamanaka and Migno are now the first drivers and for the first time, as announced yesterday, the field has spread widely. Rain races have their own laws and Takuma Matsuyama as a wildcard pilot who has just crashed must also take note of this.
Two men in the lead alone
Two men are far ahead alone in the lead, Garcia and Salac, with almost 5 seconds ahead of their pursuers. On Turn 6 Kaito Toba also fell. The second group with Rossi, Sasaki and McPhee is 5 seconds behind, but is more than 13 ahead of their closest pursuers. In turn 3, the race is as good as over for Darryn Binder, the Australian has no more chance of scoring points, even if he could continue. Currently, it is not raining any more and there is even a lot of blue in the sky, but the weather can of course change quickly as on the days before. Despite its fall, Acosta is already in 11th place. When there are 10 laps left, Garcia goes far in Turn 8 and Salac takes the lead in front of the Spaniard. Garcia is now back in front of Salac and Acosta has already advanced to position 8.
The last 6 laps
In between, Kofler had moved up to P10, but now he is already back in 14th position and has to tremble for championship points. Garcia currently has a lead of over 1 second on Salac and Rossi is a good 7.5 behind them safely in P3, with a safe distance from McPhee and Sasaki. Pole setter Migno is currently tenth when there are 3 laps left. McPhee was able to break away from Sasaki and is on course for fourth place and his first ever World Championship points this season. Only Rossi in P3 is currently still at risk when it comes to the last lap, because McPhee sees the Italian in front of him and thus still has a podium chance. Sergio Garcia wins the French Grand Prix ahead of Salac and Rossi, who still makes it to the podium ahead of McPhee. Acosta defended its lead and still has a good double the points as its closest rival. Despite the crash still on P8, the drivers placed behind him have to give serious thought. Below is the ranking of the Moto3 race with the riders without championship points in italics.
P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap
1, 11, Sergio GARCIA, 130.4, 42’21.172
2, 12, Filip SALAC, 130.3, 2.349
3, 54, Riccardo ROSSI, 130.1, 5.589
4, 17, John MCPHEE, 130.0, 7.158
5, 71, Ayumu SASAKI, 129.6, 14.882
6, 31, Adrian FERNANDEZ, 129.0, 27.279
7, 43, Xavier ARTIGAS, 129.0, 27.408
8, 37, Pedro ACOSTA, 128.9, 29.880
9, 53, Deniz ÖNCÜ, 128.6, 35.098
10, 55, Romano FENATI, 128.5, 36.616
11, 16, Andrea MIGNO, 128.2, 42.347
12, 6, Ryusei YAMANAKA, 128.2, 42.739
13, 50, Jason DUPASQUIER, 128.2, 42.756
14, 28, Izan GUEVARA, 127.8, 50.891
15, 19, Andi Farid IZDIHAR, 127.7, 52.753
16, 73, Maximilian KOFLER, 127.7, 53.054
17, 82, Stefano NEPA, 127.7, 53.568
18, 7, Dennis FOGGIA, 126.5, +1’18.995
19, 20, Lorenzo FELLON, 126.4, +1’19.103
20, 40, Darryn BINDER, 124.8, +1’54.124
21, 27, Kaito TOBA, 123.3, 1 Lap
22, 52, Jeremy ALCOBA, 106.1, 4 Laps
Not Classified
99, Carlos TATAY, 124.8, 8 Laps
32, Takuma MATSUYAMA, 121.8, 19 Laps
2, Gabriel RODRIGO, 122.9, 20 Laps
5, Jaume MASIA, 120.8, 21 Laps
24, Tatsuki SUZUKI, 119.3, 21 Laps
23, Niccolò ANTONELLI, 66.5, 21 Laps
The race of Moto2: Fernandez, Gardner & Bezzecchi – Lowes with crash
Originally declared as a rain race, the race management was gripped by a spiritual enlightenment and has now announced it as a dry race due to the absolutely dry track. After the start in mostly blue skies with some rather light clouds, Bezzecchi was leading in front of pole setter Raul Fernandez and Roberts overtook Aron Canet in La Chapelle, who then resisted, but took off at Turn 9 shortly afterwards. World Cup runner-up Sam Lowes, who started in 10th place, is only in this position and now has some catching up to do. Schrötter is fourteenth ahead of Chantra, Syahrin and Ogura. The next in the gravel trap is Augusto Fernandez, crashed at Turn 11. A little later Stefano Manzi is also on the ground and Lowes is already on P8 behind his former teammate Xavi Vierge.
The next falls – the field decimates
After Alonso Lopez, it is Sam Lowes who collides with Vierge and pulls him down with him. Shortly afterwards, Joe Roberts, who was in second place, also falls. Raul Fernandez leads before Bezzecchi, Bendsneyder, and Gardner, who until recently was only on P9. Schrötter is already in the top ten at P8, while Hector Garzo is the next in turn 11 to end his race with a crash. Behind Gardner on P5, Arbolino is ahead of “Di Gia”, Schrötter with already P7, Ogura and Cameron Beaubier. Lüthi is even on course for points with position 14 this time, after the many failures in front of the Swiss. At the top, rookie Raul Fernandez has pulled away from Bezzecchi and is just over 1 second ahead and behind the Italian, Bendsneyder is almost half a second behind.
Di Giannantonio with a long lap penalty
This punishment throws the Italian out of the top ten. Schrötter is now several seconds behind team-mate Arbolino in P6 and has Beaubier behind him, who shortly after passes the German. The gap ahead is still very large for the group with the US boy at the top. The group with Beaubier in the lead is a good 10 seconds behind 5th place with Arbolino and Schrötter was also overtaken by Ogura and is now eighth. While Raul Fernandez is still just over a second ahead of Bezzecchi, behind the Italian is a group of three with Bendsneyder, Gardner and Arbolino. Lüthi has just crashed and throws away his point chance.
The last 10 laps
Only on P19 is Jake Dixon in front of Lorenzo Baldassari, one of the main actors from last year. Gardner is now the leader of the chasing group and thus the world championship leader is on the podium. To the east of the track there are dark clouds in the sky and if it rains the race would definitely be stopped. Gardner has overtaken Bezzecchi and the gap to Raul Fernandez is melting away. Perhaps the young Spaniard put too much stress on his tires at the beginning and has to be careful 6 laps before the end not to miss the win. Beaubier crashes in turn 3 and then stumbles while getting up. His race, which has been good up to then, is not rewarded with a top ten result. With four laps to go, Gardner seems to have given up the hunt for the leading Spaniard and the Australian is on a secure 2nd place ahead of Bezzecchi when the third to last lap starts.
The Final
Provided that the son of the 500cc world champion from 1987 is satisfied with second place and Fernandez wins, Gardne will still be the world championship leader with a 1 point lead. Fernandez wins ahead of Gardner, Bezzecchi, Arbolino, Bendsneyder and Schrötter. Winner Raul Fernandez is now just one point behind Red Bull Ajo Kalex team-mate Gardner World Cup runner-up and the fallen Lowes is losing ground in the battle for the title. As we announced at the beginning of April, Remy Gardner will be racing for KTM in MotoGP next season. The Australian has more than earned this with the results of the first 5 races. In the end, according to his statement, his tires were no more than P2. Below the official result.
P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap
1, 25, Raul FERNANDEZ, 153.9, 40’46.101
2, 87, Remy GARDNER, 153.8, 1.490
3, 72, Marco BEZZECCHI, 153.6, 4.599
4, 14, Tony ARBOLINO, 153.5, 7.503
5, 64, Bo BENDSNEYDER, 153.2, 11.887
6, 23, Marcel SCHROTTER, 152.2, 27.829
7, 79, Ai OGURA, 152.2, 27.975
8, 21, Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO, 152.2, 28.112
9, 24, Simone CORSI, 152.2, 28.204
10, 9, Jorge NAVARRO, 152.2, 28.432
11, 19, Lorenzo DALLA PORTA, 152.1, 28.989
12, 35, Somkiat CHANTRA, 152.1, 28.749
13, 11, Nicolò BULEGA, 152.1, 29.316
14, 42, Marcos RAMIREZ, 152.0, 31.605
15, 75, Albert ARENAS, 151.9, 32.080
16, 55, Hafizh SYAHRIN, 151.9, 32.571
17, 70, Barry BALTUS, 151.9, 33.309
18, 7, Lorenzo BALDASSARRI, 151.5, 39.036
19, 96, Jake DIXON, 151.4, 41.069
20, 13, Celestino VIETTI, 151.1, 45.599
21, 10, Tommaso MARCON, 149.1, +1’19.160
Not Classified
6, Cameron BEAUBIER, 152.1, 5 Laps
12, Thomas LUTHI, 151.2, 11 Laps
40, Hector GARZO, 150.7, 19 Laps
16, Joe ROBERTS, 150.4, 21 Laps
97, Xavi VIERGE, 148.6, 22 Laps
22, Sam LOWES, 148.5, 22 Laps
62, Stefano MANZI, 145.9, 23 Laps
2, Alonso LOPEZ, 142.6, 23 Laps
37, Augusto FERNANDEZ, 143.7, 24 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
44, Aron CANET, , 0 Lap
The MotoGP race
When the sun shines, everyone is wondering whether the weather gods mean it particularly well with Fabio Quartararo this time. In contrast to his compatriot Johann Zarco, rain races are not at all his strength for the young French due to lack of experience, as you saw last year. It is currently dry, however, and if it stays that way, the pole setter is the favourite, although Zarco should not be underestimated in all conditions. There is a good chance that we will see a new world championship leader after the race. Francesco Bagnaia starts so far behind that his closest rivals Quartararo and Viñales with a top result have a good chance of overtaking the Italian in the intermediate classification. The two Suzuki drivers do not have an easy task ahead of them either, although they were often among the best in the end over the distance last season.
The Race
It’s not raining right now when the drivers go on the warm-up lap, but the sky doesn’t look very reassuring. There are very dark clouds hanging near the Bugatti Circuit. The chance for one of the rare flag-to-flag races is currently around 50 percent. After the start, Miller is in the lead, followed by Vinales, Quartararo, Nakagami, Marquez and Pol Espargaró. Zarco only in ninth place and Morbido misses turn 11 and lies in the gravel trap. Rins has overtaken Nakagami and Marquez, who is now behind the Japanese who caught the Suzuki driver again. Vinales is in the lead when 25 laps have to be driven, ahead of Miller and Quartararo, followed by the group of three with Nakagami, Rins and Marc Marquez, about 1.5 seconds behind.
Raindrops and white flags
The first four are not pitting yet, Miller and Quartararo are fighting for the lead, followed directly by Rins and Marquez, while Vinales is already 5 seconds behind. Miller missed the curve shortly before entering the pit and the 3 leading guys went to the pit to change bikes. Joan Mir also crashed and the first riders led by Marquez are back on track when Rins crashes again as before in Jerez and Portugal. Quartararo is the first pursuer of the new leader. Miller and Bagnaia received a double long lap penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane. Marquez can take full risk, while Quartararo also has to pay attention to the World Cup stand behind it, because for him, it’s about the World Cup lead.
The order after changing bikes
Marquez is in the lead with a 2-second lead over Quartararo. Miller is currently on P3 ahead of Nakagami, Zarco, Alex Marquez and Pol Espargaró. Marc Marquez fell by highsider! It was in the home corner and Marquez is starting the race again on P18. Quartararo is now in the lead 1.6 seconds ahead of Miller. Nakagami, Zarco, Alex Marquez and Aleix Espargaró are a good 13.7 seconds behind the Australian, while Miller completed his first long lap penalty. Ironically, the driver who is considered a bad man in the rain is still leading the race with Quartararo ahead of Miller. Miller is catching up more and more and is almost directly behind the Frenchman when the Frenchman also receives a long lap penalty. At least that’s what some say, because something should have been wrong with his bike change. Miller is now in the lead and Quartararo does a long lap, but is still P2 behind the Australian.
There are still 15 laps to go
After Lorenzo Savadori had to give up with a defective engine, Oliveira lies in the gravel with his KTM. Miller leads a good 4 seconds ahead of Quartararo, while Nakagami is over twelve and a half seconds behind in P3 and has Zarco just behind him. Rins has just crashed again, now the race for the Suzuki driver is finally over. What a cheer would be on the track with spectators when Zarco pushes past Nakagami into 3rd place, but it’s another ghost race. Marc Marquez is the fastest man on the track and is already back to P11 when another driver, Aleix Espargaró, was cancelled. The Catalan also had a technical problem, just like his team-mate before.
The last 10 laps
The six-time world champion is finally out of the race and does not try a second time, after his 3rd crash of the day he is at least the king of the falls on Sunday. Zarco is only a little more than 3 seconds behind Quartararo, who is just 6 behind Miller in P2. Alex Marquez is now fourth in front of Nakagami, Petrux, Bagnaia, Vinales and old master Rossi. Zarco is almost on his compatriot when there are still 7 laps to go. One lap later, the man from Cannes passes the young compatriot from Nice at the start-finish and is now second. Marc Marquez rests his head in his hands and is now sitting in the Repsol Honda box. Due to the chaotic course of the race, despite two long lap penalties, Pecco Bagnaia is already fifth behind Alex Marquez and in front of Petrux, Pol, Vinales and Rossi when there are still 4 laps to go.
Miller wins “back to back” ahead of Zarco and Quartararo
The Australian is back in business for good after his second straight win. The French are happy that both of their local heroes made it onto the podium. The Australian anthem instead of the Marseillaise will have to be endured. Bagnaia even made it to fourth place in front of Petrucci, Alex Marquez, Takaaki Nagagami, Pol Espargaró and Maverick Vinales was catched by Lecuona shortly before the chequered flag. It was a memorable race with many winners and some sad losers, including returnee Marc Marquez and the two Suzuki drivers. Quartararo is now only one point ahead of Bagnaia in the World Championship, followed by Zarco and Miller. The following is the official result with the drivers without points in italics.
P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap
1, 43, Jack MILLER, 142.9, 47’25.473
2, 5, Johann ZARCO, 142.7, 3.970
3, 20, Fabio QUARTARARO, 142.2, 14.468
4, 63, Francesco BAGNAIA, 142.1, 16.172
5, 9, Danilo PETRUCCI, 141.8, 21.430
6, 73, Alex MARQUEZ, 141.7, 23.509
7, 30, Takaaki NAKAGAMI, 141.4, 30.164
8, 44, Pol ESPARGARO, 141.2, 35.221
9, 27, Iker LECUONA, 140.9, 40.432
10, 12, Maverick VIÑALES, 140.9, 40.577
11, 46, Valentino ROSSI, 140.8, 42.198
12, 10, Luca MARINI, 140.3, 52.408
13, 33, Brad BINDER, 140.0, 59.377
14, 23, Enea BASTIANINI, 139.8, +1’02.224
15, 53, Tito RABAT, 139.5, +1’09.651
16, 21, Franco MORBIDELLI, 118.4, 4 Laps
Not Classified
93, Marc MARQUEZ, 137.6, 10 Laps
41, Aleix ESPARGARO, 138.7, 12 Laps
88, Miguel OLIVEIRA, 137.6, 15 Laps
42, Alex RINS, 128.6, 15 Laps
32, Lorenzo SAVADORI, 137.1, 16 Laps
36, Joan MIR, 155.2, 23 Laps
The first rider voices
Quartararo said in an interview after the race that his front tire was completely exhausted, but third place was like a victory for him. Of course, Johann Zarco was also very happy with his first words, although the expression on his face suggested that he would have much rather won. But the Frenchman also raised concerns about what a difficult race it was and Miller also confirmed this shortly afterwards. A lot of wind and the extremely critical conditions demanded the maximum from everyone, according to his statement.
The world championship classification after the French GP in all 3 classes
This live blog is now closed. For more, see our conclusion on the day later on.
The Circuit Bugatti – with only 5 left and 9 right turns
The world championship stand in all classes before the 5th round at Le Mans
Le Mans Grand Prix schedule
Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).
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