Le Mans, France - Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo took his second consecutive MotoGP win of the season but it was team-mate Valentino Rossi, the oldest rider on the grid, who set a new lap record for the iconic Sarthe circuit as the factory Yamahas swept to an emphatic 1-2 victory.
South African brothers Brad and Darryn Binder both crashed out of the Moto3 race.
MOTOGP
Despite saying that his third on the grid was one of the worst qualifying results of his career, Lorenzo pulled a lightning start to follow Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati into Turn 1, and by the end of lap one he was in the lead.
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,” he said afterwards. “I had to manage the one second gap and push really hard even though the front feeling wasn’t great.”
While Lorenzo was surging ahead, pole-sitter and defending champion Marc Marquez had a difficult start, dropping as low as sixth before finding his form in the closing stages. He quickly passed Bradley Smith (Yamaha Tech 3) and reeled in Andrea Iannone (Ducati).
Marquez and Iannone then put on a repeat of their Moto2 rivalry, swapping places on nearly every corner - an impressive display from Iannone as he had dislocated his left shoulder less than a week before during 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.
Charging through the field, Rossi seemed as though he might even catch his team-mate but the gap never dropped below one and a half seconds. It had been a less than ideal start to the weekend for Rossi, but big risks in changes to the set-up of Rossi’s M1 paid off on race day as he again extended his championship lead, now 15 points ahead of Andrea. “We suffered a lot during practice because I couldn’t ride to the limit,” said Rossi. “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.”
Le Mans was a difficult race for many of the British riders, as Honda riders Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding crashed out in what was a disappointing weekend for many of the Honda teams. Higher track temperatures on race day had a negative impact for the Honda riders who struggled for front-end feel; Smith did well to finish sixth behind Iannone and Marquez after a strong showing earlier in the week.
The Open category was led by Nicky Hayden (Honda) after an early duel with Jack Miller (also on a Honda) until the Australian crashed coming out of Turn 4.
Miller was not the only rider to fall as he exited Turn 4, returning Dani Pedrosa also took a tumble there; luckily he was unhurt and remounted to finish 16th.
MOTO2
A fourth career victory saw Thomas Luthi (Kalex) move to second in the championship. Alex Rins (Kalex) started from pole for the first time in his Moto2™ career but made a poor start, dropping down to ninth off the line.
Local hero Johann Zarco (Kalex) led the early stages, but eventually Luthi caught and passed him, running unchallenged in front from lap five to come home nearly two seconds clear for his second Moto2 win.
“In the beginning I felt good and the bike worked well straight away,” Luthi said. “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.”
The Marc VDS team hardly saw Tito Rabat during Friday and Saturday practice as he put in long 27 lap runs in the majority of sessions. Rabat’s race did not get off to an ideal start however, as once again he had trouble on the opening lap, being 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.
He closed in on Luthi in the final stages, but his battle with Zarco had put him too far adrift catch the leader, and he had to settle for third.
While the podium positions were settled, other spots inside the top 10 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. Lowes’ is still the only Speed Up frame amongst the group of Kalex bikes in the Moto2 top 10.
MOTO3
Rain fell during the opening minutes of qualifying on Saturday, resulting in several favourites such as Danny Kent (Honda), Efren Vazquez and Brad Binder (each on a KTM) all qualifying down the grid.
Fortunately the skies were clear on Sunday in Le Mans, but this still left a lot of work for many riders to do. Brad Binder (KTM), Remy Gardner (Mahindra) and Gabriel Rodrigo (KTM) were all victims of this added pressure as they fell going in to the chicane.
Vazquez suffered a highside as he exited, ending any hopes of recovering points after his disastrous qualifying, while Andrea Antonelli (Honda) and Enea Bastianini (Honda) 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 (Mahindra), Fabio Quartararo (Honda) and Romano Fenati (KTM), all who had started inside the top five.
The battle for the victory became an exclusively Italian affair after Fabio Quartararo crashed out of his home Grand Prix at the exit of Turn 4, just as Vazquez and several others had done.
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.