MotoGP’s 1000th grand prix event took place on Sunday in Le Mans. The event saw only 13 riders finish, with the likes of Bagnaia, Maverick Vinales, and Marc Marquez all crashing out. Bezzecchi took the lead on lap 11 and dominated the race by 4.256 seconds to the chequered flag, with Martin heading team-mate and home hero Johann Zarco.
Marquez grabbed the holeshot from second on the grid, with KTM’s Miller and VR46’s Luca Marini following closely behind. The standings leader Bagnaia dropped back to fifth behind Martin. Miller took the lead on lap two from Marquez into Turn 8, but Marquez soon snatched the position back on the exit. Miller reclaimed the lead on lap three into the Dunlop chicane, while Bagnaia moved ahead of Marini to take third just behind.
On lap five, Vinales on the factory Aprilia found his way up to fourth on Marini at the Dunlop chicane. This put Vinales into striking distance of Bagnaia, with the Aprilia rider launching an attack into Turn 11. Vinales ran wide, and as he cut back to his inside to take Turn 12, the pair collided, resulting in both riders crashing out of the race.
On lap eight, Bezzecchi forced Marquez off track at Turn 8. This allowed Martin to move into third, and Bezzecchi was forced to drop one position. Bezzecchi then passed Miller for the lead on lap 11, instantly putting six tenths between himself and the rest. Martin demoted Miller for third on lap 13 and set about chasing Marquez.
Bezzecchi was 3.1s clear come the end of lap 21, with Martin engaging with Marquez over second on lap 22. Marquez crashed out on the penultimate tour, gifting Martin second place, while Zarco took third. Bezzecchi cruised to his second grand prix victory of the year.
Rookie Fernandez Shines as Quartararo Struggles
Tech3 GASGAS rookie Augusto Fernandez finished fourth, converting his best starting position of 12th. Aleix Espargaro finished fifth on the sole-remaining factory Aprilia. Brad Binder was sixth, having had to serve a long lap penalty for cutting the track at Turn 9/10. Fabio Quartararo concluded his wretched weekend seventh for Yamaha, ahead of Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, and Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli.
Danilo Petrucci was 11th on his one-off MotoGP return for Ducati, replacing the injured Enea Bastianini. Fellow stand-ins Lorenzo Savadori (RNF) and Jonas Folger (Tech3) were the last finishers down to 13th. Honda duo Joan Mir and Alex Rins (LCR) crashed out of the race in separate incidents.
Leave a Reply