Posted on 18th May 2014
MotoGPâ„¢ World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) produced another masterclass at Le Mans to win from pole again, with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) also on the podium.
Marc Marquez continued his winning start to 2014 with victory at Sunday's French Grand Prix in Le Mans.
It was one of the world champion's more impressive victories, having run tenth at the end of lap one.
The victory means that the Spaniard has been on pole and won all of the first five races of the season. Already reaching 100 points, the 21 year-old is already 42 point ahead of his nearest challenger.
Valentino Rossi claimed his third runners up spot of the season and his second in consecutive races. The Italian held off an inspired Alvaro Bautista, who claimed his first podium since 2012.
Marquez's teammate, Dani Pedrosa, was well off the pace and struggled to fifth place, while Jorge Lorenzo had another race to forget finishing sixth and now languishes 80 points behind his rival.
It was one of the more eventful first laps, as Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso shot into the lead while Marquez fell into the pack. Halfway round the lap Lorenzo caught out Marquez, the Yamaha made a mistake which forced the Honda to take avoiding action, relegating the pole sitter to tenth.
For four laps it was Dovizioso v Rossi at the front as Marquez began his recovery. Into lap five and Rossi had taken the lead and was desperate to open a gap to the charging Spaniard.
It took Marquez until lap twelve to dispense with Pol Espargaro, Bautista and Stefan Bradl to move into second and in pursuit of the leader.
Two laps later and the World Champion was ahead, but Rossi had made it easy for him by running wide into the penultimate corner and allowing the Repsol rider to get past comfortably.
From there it was plain sailing for the Spaniard as the main battle raged for third place.
With Marquez and Rossi well out ahead and Lorenzo and Pedrosa making no impression, Bautista and Espargaro fought hard over third. But it was Bautista who finally broke away to take the final step on the podium.
It was a disappointing day for the British riders as Bradley Smith came home tenth, with Crutchlow and Scott Redding just behind in eleventh and twelfth respectively.
“In the first two corners I was too calm. I need to be a little more aggressive like last year,” marquez said, after the race.
“Today was a little bit harder than the other races. Five victories in a row is not easy so we’re going to enjoy the moment.”
Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) crashed on the first lap after contact with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), only for the Italian to go down shortly afterwards. Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) was also an early crasher, though none of those three were seriously affected by the incidents.
MotoGPâ„¢ Race Classification
1- Marc Marquez SPA Honda 44`03.925
2- Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha +1.486
3- Alvaro Bautista SPA Honda +3.144
1st OPEN
9- Aleix Espargaro SPA Forward Yamaha +22.626
LeMans laser cut circuit by www.grahamandleigh.co.uk
Moto2â„¢: Second successive win for in form Kallio
Victory in the Moto2â„¢ Monster Energy Grand Prix de France race was clinched by Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) at Le Mans, with Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) and Esteve Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) following the Finn across the finish line.
Mika Kallio rode calmly from fourth on the grid, hunting down provisional race leader Corsi for the victory and taking over at the front with eight laps to go. Corsi eventually finished a second behind the winner, holding off a late challenge from championship leader Rabat – who had to settle for third.
Young Spanish rookies Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) and Luis Salom (Pons HP 40) were both in the podium chase as they gathered more Moto2 experience, eventually finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Another 2014 intermediate class debutant Jonas Folger (AGR Team) was sixth, having started on pole.
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert), Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2), Sam Lowes (Speed Up) and Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) were top ten finishers.
Axel Pons (AGR Team), Alex De Angelis (Tasca Racing Moto2), Tetsuta Nagashima (Teluru Team JiR Webike), Julian Simon (Italtrans Racing Team) and Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) were all crashers, whilst home riders Louis Rossi (SAG Team) and Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) also crashed in front of the home fans.
Ricard Cardus (Tech 3) and Mattia Pasini (NGM Forward Racing) crashed out together early on, with Pasini unhappy with Cardus' role in the accident.
Moto2â„¢ Race Classification
1- Mika Kallio FIN Kalex 42`41.696
2- Simone Corsi ITA Kalex +1.015
3- Tito Rabat SPA Kalex +1.303
Moto3â„¢: Miller strikes back with classy victory
In perfect conditions at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took victory in another exciting Moto3™ contest, with Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team) joining him on the Le Mans podium.
Another brilliant race saw eight riders in podium contention on the last lap with Miller holding off a challenge from pole man Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) in the final stages to secure his third win of the year.
Rins led by almost two seconds at one point but was eventually pulled back for second, with Viñales riding bravely to achieve his first ever Grand Prix podium result.
Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) were both in the top five, both within 0.5s of the podium.
Vazquez had also led the race at various points and was unhappy to finish sixth when a first ever victory looked possible.
Enea Bastianini (Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3), John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG), Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) and Jakub Kornfeil (Calvo Team) completed the top ten.
Juanfran Guevara (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3), Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Jules Danilo (Ambrogio Racing) and Niccolo Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN) all crashed out in the early laps, whilst there were also DNFs for Alessandro Tonucci (CIP Mahindra) and Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo).
The winner of the last two rounds Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) retired with electronics issues towards the end of the race.
Moto3â„¢ Race Classification
1- Jack Miller AUS KTM 41’30.582
2- Alex Rins SPA Honda +0.095
3- Isaac Viñales SPA KTM +0.230
