MotoGP™ - HJC Helmets Grand Prix de France - Racecard
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MotoGP: Marc Márquez takes Le Mans spoils
20/05/2018
The winner of Sunday’s HJC Helmets Grand Prix de France (Round 5 of the 2018 MotoGPTM World Championship) at Le Mans-Bugatti was Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team). Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were second and third.
After starting the 2018 French GP from second on the grid with his Honda sitting on medium and hard MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear, Márquez completed the first of the race’s 27 laps in fourth position. The world champion then took command on Lap 10 after easing past Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) who had leapt into the lead from sixth position at lights-out.
Márquez went on to post a series of quick laps that provided him with a handsome cushion of more than two seconds over Petrucci.
Despite qualifying a relatively lowly ninth, Rossi took part in the podium celebrations for the first time since Qatar. The nine-time champion gradually worked his way up the order to move into third place on Lap 13 before successfully defending that position to the flag.
Pole-sitter Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech3) – who established a new qualifying record for Le Mans with a 1m31.185s – was caught out on Lap 8 while running in second spot behind Lorenzo. The same misadventure had eliminated the latter’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso three laps earlier.
Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) figured in the afternoon’s top five, while Lorenzo and Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) ended up sixth and seventh, ahead of the astonishing Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda). Following a nasty fall during the second qualifying session, the Briton spent Saturday night under observation in hospital but was declared fit to race. The reward for his perseverance was eighth place.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) rounded out the top 10.
Marc Márquez’s third row win of the season has taken him further clear at the top of the provisional championship standings on 95 points, ahead of Viñales (59) and Zarco (58).
Prochaine épreuve : Grand Prix d’Italie, Mugello, du 1