#FRENCHGP – MOTOGP SPRINT & RACE
MOTOGP – SPRINT – Showstopper: Martin dominates as Champions clash
MotoGP™ fans could not take their eyes off their screens as Saturday’s Tissot Sprint delivered once again at the SHARK Grand Prix de France. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) put in an inch-perfect ride to take his first Sprint victory in MotoGP™. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) fought his way through the pack to storm to a lonely P2 as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) brought home solid championship points after fending off Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) in an intense battle for 3rd place.
No stopping The Martinator
With two World Champions lining up first and second on the grid ahead of the first-ever Tissot Sprint at the Le Mans circuit, we were set up perfectly for exciting action on Saturday. The lights went out, and it was Bagnaia who stormed off the line to take the hole shot whilst Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) shot into P2. Turn 2 came and Martin made an incredible around-the-outside move to take 2nd place from Miller.
As the riders crossed the line for the first time it was Bagnaia leading Martin with Miller in 3rd, and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Marquez in hot pursuit. Sector two came around and it was disappointment in the KTM camp as Jack Miller crashed out at Museum corner to promote Marquez to P3. In the meantime, spirits were lifted for the Austrian manufacturer as Binder was on the move, and pushed his way past Marini to set the fastest lap and latch himself onto the back of the top 3. 11 laps to go, and it was a four-rider scrap for Tissot Sprint glory as Bagnaia led Martin, Marquez, and Binder respectively with Marini in a distant 5th.
This didn’t last long, however, as Martin lunged up the inside of Bagnaia to take the lead away from the Ducati top dog. Martin then began to put the hammer down and pulled out 0.7s in just one lap, with the Spaniard going on to take victory by 1.8s.
The Champion vs The King
Marquez and Binder were queuing up behind the World Champion and a big reshuffle at the Dunlop chicane saw Binder take full advantage to go into P2 demoting Bagnaia to P3 and Marquez to P4. Marini then caught the battle as Bagnaia was struggling to hold onto the pace of the leaders.
Bagnaia began to drop down the order as Marquez pushed his way through at the Dunlop chicane with 8 laps to go seeing Bagnaia drop to 5th behing Marquez and Marini. With the Italian clearly struggling the World Champion did his best to cling on, and snapped straight back at Marini.
Seven laps to go and Martin had a 1.7s advantage over a lonely Brad Binder in P2, with Marquez, Bagnaia and Marini two seconds behind the South African.
The battle for third place was brewing nicely between the two World Champions as fans had an incredible fight hotting up. Bagnaia made a move on the eight-time World Champion at the 200mph Turn 1 with 4 laps of racing still remaining. The Italian then put the hammer down, and Marquez was unable to hang onto the coattails of the factory Ducati as the Spaniard fell into the clutches of Luca Marini. Bagnaia found form as the Italian was motoring towards the 2nd placed Binder with laps ticking away, but it was too little too late for the Italian who consolidated 3rd place 0.7s shy of the South African in 2nd and 0.7s ahead of 4th place.
Martin crossed the line to take his first Sprint win as well as his first Grand Prix points at Le Mans, bouncing back in style. Binder took second to gain in the title fight, ahead of Bagnaia completing the podium.
Blink and you miss it!
Not only was there an incredible battle between two Champions, but there was action everywhere you looked in Saturday’s Tissot Sprint. After Bagnaia pulled away from the pack to defend his top 3 position, Marini got the better of Marquez to take 4th place. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) was all over the rear of the battle for 4th, but lost ground after a crucial mistake in the closing stages halted his progress and saw the Frenchman settle for 6th.
Meanwhile, further back there was a gaggle of riders swapping paintwork as Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) got the better of the chasing Aprilia Racing riders of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales to take 7th place with the Aprilias 8th and 9th respectively.
The nightmare home Grand Prix for Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) continued as the Frenchman crashed out of the Sprint to the dismay of the home crowd.
Top 10:
1. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing)
2. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) +1.840
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) +2.632
4. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) +3.418
5. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) +3.541
6. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) +4.483
7. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) +5.224
8. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) +6.359
9. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) +8.336
10. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) +9.439
MOTOGP – RACE – Drama, clashes, glory and a title twist: #GP1000 had it all
Take a minute to catch your breath after what was an incredible SHARK Grand Prix de! Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) takes a special place in history as the race winner at the 1000th FIM Grand Prix after a stunning break for glory in front of a record crowd at Le Mans, and there was drama, drama, drama throughout the field.
First, Bezzecchi is now just one point behind Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) after the Italian crashed out of the race in a dramatic clash with Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales… gravel trap shouting match included, but both riders ok. Then, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) vs Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) lit up the fight for second in a tough but fair tussle, but that then ended in late-race heartbreak for the number 93 as he slid out. However, for the French fans it did mean Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) was then promoted to a glorious home podium after some impressive Sunday pace, giving the 278,805 record crowd even more to cheer about.
Lights out for the 1000th time
The grid formed in front of the biggest crowd MotoGP™ has ever seen and it was Marc Marquez who shot into the lead as Bagnaia dropped down the order to P5. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) slotted himself into P2 with Bezzecchi putting his VR46 Ducati into P3. Bagnaia then quickly snapped back at Martin as the Ducati riders duked it out on lap 1.
It was Marquez, Miller, Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), Bagnaia, and then Martin as they came across the line for the first time, and we had a race on our hands in MotoGP™. Miller wasn’t intimated by the eight-time World Champion by any means as the Aussie tried to force his way through on Marquez, but the Spaniard wouldn’t give in and hit straight back in true Marquez fashion.
Miller hit the front at the Dunlop chicane, meanwhile, the reigning World Champion was on the move as Bagnaia had now climbed his way back up into a podium position with 25 laps remaining…
Plot twist in the Championship, and a big reshuffle in the race
The laps ticked away as a seven-bike battle for victory formed with Viñales carving his way into the 3rd place, the Aprilia seriously on the move. But then came the drama: the Spaniard collided with Bagnaia as both riders competed for the same piece of tarmac, both careening off into the gravel. Riders ok and to their feet… and then a fair few yells exchanged.
Half a lap later, there was more drama in the Le Mans gravel traps as Marini suffered a big crash coming out of the Dunlop chicane, just cutting the kerb. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) then got caught in the Italian’s crash as the field behind avoided the incident, riders again ok but another huge moment of adrenaline shaking the race up. Marquez was, to go back to an incident at the race start, later given a 3-position grid penalty for his next GP race too – after forcing Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) wide earlier in the race and causing a domino effect with a number of riders shuffled.
As the chaos subsided, we had a race on our hands. A four-rider battle for victory had formed as Miller now found himself with Marquez, Bezzecchi, and Martin for company, before Bezzecchi pushed his way through on Marc Marquez – and dropped the Spaniard from 2nd to 4th. The number 93 was sent into another postcode although no harm done, with both regrouping and Bezzecchi then told to drop a position for the move: a penalty he expected, and a penalty he also served wisely as he chose his moment to let Martin back through. And then took it back, with Marquez following suit too.
Martin vs Marquez
With 15 laps to go, Bezzecchi had 1.2s in his pocket to Marquez behind, who was 0.5s up the road from Martin, who had found his way through on Miller. The Aussie was starting to fall into the clutches of Zarco and Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3). It didn’t take long for Zarco to push his way through either as the Frenchman moved up into P4 and Fernandez followed, leaving Miller in sixth.
With six to go, Martin thought it was time to pounce on Marc Marquez. The Spaniard tried to push his way through on the eight-time World Champion, but the Repsol Honda man was not giving in easy and bit back at the Prima Pramac Racing rider at every opportunity. That allowed Zarco to edge closer and closer… and the crowd had definitely noticed.
Martin finally pushed his way through with one and a half laps remaining, and this time the drama was for the number 93. Trying to hang in there, the returning Repsol Honda rider tucked the front and ended his French Grand Prix in the gravel trap, but after quite a return to the upper echelons of the timesheets.
Delight on home soil
That meant one thing to a partisan crown: Zarco was on the podium. The grandstands erupted around the French circuit as Bezzecchi crossed the line for a first dry weather win, Martin ensured he’s the top scorer at Le Mans this year, and then the home hero reached the flag. The noise made for an impressive welcome.
Fourth place was also something to shout about as Tech3’s Fernandez took an impressive result after an impressive weekend. First time in Q2, the GASGAS rider had had the speed all weekend and made it pay to perfection on Sunday to bounce back.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) rounded out the top five as Binder recovered from being battered down the order on the first lap to fight his way back through the pack, take a long penalty for a shortcut, and still manage to take sixth. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) had a tougher home Grand Prix but took a chunk of points on Sunday as the 2021 World Champion ended his weekend in Le Mans with a P7, with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), and Franco Morbidelli taking 8th, 9th, and 10th – just ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Lenovo Team) on his MotoGP™ return deputising for the injured Enea Bastianini.
Early race leader Miller crashed out with three laps remaining after the Aussie had been dropping down the order on his KTM machine, making it a weekend to forget in terms of results but one to remember for speed.
Top 10:
1. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team)
2. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) +4.256
3. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) +4.795
4. Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) +6.281
5. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) +6.726
6. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) +13.638
7. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) +15.023
8. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) +15.826
9. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) +16.370
10. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) +17.828
“I’m so happy. After the quali I had the crash in the Sprint and then also in Warm-up so I was missing some confidence but I knew I had the pace to fight for something in the race nice. I wasn’t expecting this though! I made the right choice with the front tire and I want to thank the team for all their work, not only here but all season, and we are going in the right direction, so let’s keep pushing.”
Augusto Fernández P4
“The race was quite good. Compared to yesterday, I improved my feeling on the bike a lot and also used a different front tyre. I did a little mistake in the second lap and lost three seconds to the group in front of me. After that, I reduced the gap to one second and started to fight. The problem happened in the last eight laps when my right arm was completely finished and I couldn’t manage the bike anymore the way I’m used to for the rest of the race. Overall, I’m quite happy. On Friday I tried some stuff for Aprilia, so my weekend really started on Saturday and my timing also improved. I’m happy with the results and would like to thank Aprilia and the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team.”
Luca Savadori P12
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #KytCrew during the weekend in Spain.