A day Johann Zarco, LCR Honda Castrol and a record-breaking Michelin Grand Prix of France crowd will never forget. For the first time since 1954, 71 years ago, a French MotoGP rider wins on home turf after a wet tyre gamble from Zarco saw the 34-year-old beat second place Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) by nearly 20 seconds.
Marc Marquez gained important points in the title chase as both Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) failed to score points on a hugely dramatic Sunday afternoon, which saw Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) claim a debut MotoGP rostrum.
France’s 100th GP win, and their 16th in MotoGP.
MotoGP Race Report
Tensions were at an all-time high in the lead up to lights out as light rain scattered the Le Mans circuit in the build up.
Heading onto the warm up lap, with everyone on Michelin’s slick tyres, it was then abundantly clear that was the wrong tyre to be on.
Polesitter Quartararo was nearly down at Turn 3 and at the end of the warm up lap, unsurprisingly, every rider peeled into pit lane and that brought out the red flags due to an excessive number of riders at pit lane exit as we then set ourselves for a quick restart procedure at the French GP.
The Grand Prix was also reduced by one lap to 26, with a wet race declared – that meant riders could come in and change their bikes at any moment once we got underway.
And there was more drama at the end of the sighting lap. More than half the grid, including Quartararo, Alex Marquez and Marc Marquez, were in while Bagnaia stayed on the grid.
Eventually we were lights out and underway and as he was in the Sprint, Bagnaia was down at Turn 3 on Lap 1!
Meanwhile, Quartararo led from Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez, Aldeguer was fourth as Bagnaia made it back to pit lane to jump onto his dry weather bike. The Italian was miles behind but having pitted at the end of the sighting lap, over half the grid had double Long Lap penalties to take.
Quartararo, having led by over a second, was the first of the front runners to dive into the Long Lap loop. Alex Marquez, Aldeguer – who had passed Marc Marquez – and Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) were the next to come in, but Marc Marquez didn’t. This happened after Bagnaia had been lapped – a disaster for Pecco, who then came in for dry tyres. A decision that would prove costly again soon after.
Then, heartbreak. Quartararo was down at the final corner and so was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) right behind the Frenchman. Gutting for the 100,000+ crowd, but back on circuit, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Viñales were back in the pit lane to switch back onto wet tyres.
Where to look? Marc and Alex were next to come in and that left Aldeguer leading the Grand Prix by over 12 seconds, but now, the rookie was clearly on the wrong tyre – and sure enough, the #54 came in on the next lap.
Right, where were we? Well, to the delight of the French faithful, Zarco led the French Grand Prix! The LCR Honda rider had stuck it out on the wet weather tyres and he was leading by seven seconds over Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), the Portuguese rider had done the same as Zarco, with Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez pressing Oliveira on Lap 9 of 26.
The Marquez brothers passed a struggling Oliveira with ease and with 17 laps to go, the gap between leader Zarco and the Marquez duo was 8.5s. That grew to nine seconds with 15 laps to go, then it was 9.3s as Zarco churned out low 1:46s, with Marquez near enough matching the home hero. Alex Marquez was losing touch with his brother, but had a six second buffer to fourth place Acosta.
With 11 laps to go, Zarco was marching towards an astonishing home Grand Prix victory. The gap had risen to 11.5s, then it was 12.4s as Zarco lapped at least a second quicker than anyone else on track. That trend continued as the advantage rose to over 14 seconds with seven laps as we witnessed two crashes – first Oliveria was down at the final corner, then Alex Marquez crashed at Turn 3. Luckily the former Championship leader remounted, and such were the gaps between a lot of riders, the Spanish GP winner re-joined the Grand Prix in P6. That off promoted Acosta to P3.
Having got back into the race, Alex Marquez ventured into the gravel again and unfortunately that was his French GP done. But Gresini’s podium hopes weren’t over because Aldeguer was catching Acosta at a rapid rate of knots. With two laps left, the rookie was right on the back of Acosta and at the front, Zarco’s lead was 19 seconds. The Frenchman simply had to nurse his Honda to the chequered flag.
Aldeguer did get Acosta but it was all eyes on Zarco. One lap left Johann! And he brought it home.
The roof was raised at Le Mans because for the first time since 1954, a French MotoGP rider clinched victory on home turf. Unbelievable. What a moment for Zarco, LCR Honda and the record-breaking French GP crowd.
Marc Marquez crossed the line 19.9s away from Zarco to collect an important 20 points.
Aldeguer backed up his Saturday bronze medal with a debut Sunday MotoGP podium. What a weekend for the rookie.
Acosta had to settle for P4 after he couldn’t live with Aldeguer’s late race pace, as Viñales earned KTM a double top five in France.
Honda HRC Test Team’s Takaaki Nakagami took a magnificent P6 in his first wildcard ride for the Japanese factory.
Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) picked up his season best Sunday result in seventh.
Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) rounded out the top 10.
Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) closed out the points, with Bagnaia acting as the final finisher in P16.
For Jack Miller it was a tale of what might have been… The Australian had made the correct tyre choice, starting the race on wets and staying on them after most riders headed to the pits to swap bikes for slicks. From 13th position on lap 3, Miller began recovering ground fast, slicing through the field. It all looked to be shaping into a dream Sunday for Miller, but that dream turned into anguish when, at the end of lap 6, at the final corner, Miller suffered a vicious highside after losing the rear.