View of the main grandstand in picture-perfect weather, photographed by us in May 2018 – the last completely dry weekend in Le Mans so far. After Saturday 2019, initially in Q1, it was even wet during the race the following year. The forecast from Friday is consistently 90 percent probability of rain, with the only exception on Sunday morning with around 40.

The lousy weather in Le Mans dampens the anticipation of many drivers

In MotoGP, rain races with the electronic helpers and the huge fall areas are far less dangerous than until the 1980s. Neither of these existed back then and if you crashed in the wrong place, you ran the risk of sacrificing your life for your love of racing. After last year, we can still expect wet conditions at Le Mans when the drivers go out on the track. It is hardly surprising that this forecast tarnishes the anticipation of many drivers. Conversely, it increases the chances of those who, like Petrux in 2020, literally surpassed themselves in the rain. So far he has practically only had problems on the KTM, but of course everything changes in wet conditions. The number of rain races is very unevenly distributed across the various nations, as the following statistics show for the period from 1995 to 2020. France overtook the Czech Republic last year and is now in fourth place in the rather unpopular ranking after China, the Netherlands and Australia.

There were only 4 races in China, while Spaniards are already at 89 during this period. 7 alone were added in the first Corona year 2020 because numerous other events were cancelled due to a lack of spectator permission and most of them were made up in Spain, and Portugal came back on the calendar.
In absolute numbers per nation, the highest values are shown in bold. We decided not to show the audience numbers because some of them were reported absolutely unreliable and in a few years’ time, some were simply estimated.

The countdown is running

On Friday morning the riders go out on the track for the first time, and it is almost certain that they will have rain tires on their bikes. Some of the strongest riders on the first laps will have a tough time getting to the front if it stays wet. Including almost certainly one of the two local heroes in MotoGP, Fabio Quartararo. While his compatriot, who comes from Cannes, has good chances for top positions, the younger Yamaha rider from Nice has usually looked pretty lost in the wet due to his driving style. If he hadn’t crashed in the first chicane last year, we would even count Valentino Rossi among the podium candidates. At the moment, however, the old master is very difficult to assess, but his experience on a wet track will certainly help him enormously in order to find his way around quickly.

Start of a rain race in the 1950s. There have always been drivers who liked the wet conditions and others who would have preferred not to drive in such conditions. During this time, however, in contrast to today, the pilots played with their lives when falling, see for example the report on Hans Baltisberger in our constantly growing history.

Circuit Bugatti- the traditional racetrack in eastern France

With only 5 left turns and 9 right turns, the Bugatti circuit fits very poorly to the problems reported by Marc Marquez after his race. Allegedly, the Repsol Honda driver even thought of a task with 8 laps to go, mainly because he said “I don’t have enough muscles and strength”. The problem for him is still as soon as it goes around to the right. His worst crash was in Jerez, but in a left corner. So we prefer to concentrate on the general aspects of the Le Mans track. For the opponents of Ducati it is reassuring that there is no long straight here either. The maximum is 647 m, with which the lightning-fast reds have to wait until Mugello in order to enjoy their strongest triumph. La Chapelle and Garage Vert are somewhat reminiscent of the almost 180 degree curves 6 and 13 of Jerez, but otherwise the characteristics of the Circuit Bugatti are completely different.

The world championship stand in all classes before the 5th round at Le Mans

The schedule for the Le Mans weekend

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