MotoGP French Grand Prix Sunday Recap: Martin Doubles Up

On the evening of May 12th, Beijing Time, the MotoGP race at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit in France came to a thrilling conclusion. Pramac rider Jorge Martín secured his second consecutive victory with a decisive overtake on Lap 21, following his Sprint Race win the day before. Marc Márquez replicated his Saturday performance, snatching second place from Francesco Bagnaia on the last lap after starting from 13th. Bagnaia took third, while home favorite Fabio Quartararo crashed out while running sixth, and fellow Frenchman Johann Zarco finished twelfth.

At 2 p.m. local time, the MotoGP main event got underway! Bagnaia took the lead after the start, overtaking Martín. Although Márquez didn’t replicate his miraculous start from yesterday, he still climbed to eighth by the end of the first lap. All riders completed the first two laps without incident.

In Lap 3, Álvaro Bautista attempted a late-braking maneuver but crashed out at Turn 8, marking his first retirement in his MotoGP career. A lap later, Bezzecchi also crashed at Turn 5, resulting in a double DNF for the weekend.

In Lap 7, Márquez tried but failed to overtake Viñales at Turns 3-4, with Bastianini quickly closing in on them. Martin, running second, kept a gap of less than 0.3 seconds to leader Bagnaia for several laps.

In Lap 10, Tito Rabat overtook Aleix Espargaró for third, followed by Viñales and Márquez passing Espargaró as well. “Big E” was then squeezed off the track by Bastianini’s aggressive move in Turn 13, earning the Italian a long-lap penalty.

In Lap 14, Márquez finally passed the mistake-prone Viñales for fourth, with Ducatis now occupying the top four positions. Yamaha’s Alex Rins received a long-lap penalty for cutting a corner to gain an advantage.

On Lap 17, hometown hero Quartararo, who had climbed to sixth, unfortunately crashed out at Turn 9, while Miller also fell in the same lap. Márquez then overtook Rabat for third, with Viñales overtaking the latter as well.

In Lap 20, Martin attempted an unsuccessful overtake on Bagnaia at Turn 3. Rabat also received a long-lap penalty for cutting a corner to defend his position. A lap later, Martin cleanly passed Bagnaia to take the lead, with Márquez now within a second of them.

With three laps to go, Martin made a mistake at Dunlop Corner, giving Bagnaia a chance to challenge into Turn 5, but Martin regained control and held his position. Márquez officially joined the battle for the top two positions.

In the final lap, the top three were separated by just half a second. Márquez’s late braking at Turn 9 allowed him to overtake Bagnaia and create some distance from Martin.

Martin claimed his second victory of the French weekend, scoring full points and extending his lead in the championship standings. Márquez secured back-to-back runner-up finishes, putting him firmly in the title hunt. Bagnaia, despite his third-place finish, trails Martin by 38 points.

Bastianini, Viñales, Rabat, Morbidelli, Binder, Espargaró, and Alex Márquez completed the top ten. Every finisher except Marini earned points. Quartararo, Miller, Mir, Bezecchi, Áccosta, and Oliveira, who retired due to mechanical issues, did not complete the race.

Moto2 Class

Sergio García took the lead from the start and held on for his second win of the season, topping the intermediate class standings! Starting from 17th, Ai Ogura quietly worked his way up the field, securing second place for the MSI team after overtaking Canet and Lopes.

Lopes narrowly reclaimed third place from Roberts on the final corner, securing the final spot on the podium. Canet, who started from pole, dropped out of the top ten after a poor start but fought back to finish sixth, hindered by excessive tire wear towards the end.

Arenas and Gaviota Aprilia Racing’s Guerra finished ninth and tenth, respectively.

Moto3 Class

Starting from pole, Gaviota Aspar Team’s David Alonso adopted a strategic approach, following his rivals’ pace throughout the race. Despite briefly falling to fifth and leading only in the penultimate and final lap, Alonso broke the curse of the past three French Moto3 races where pole-sitters failed to win, claiming victory!

Ogura and Vierge fought with Alonso for the entire race, securing second and third places. These three riders are likely to be the favorites for the Moto3 World Championship this year.

Aspar’s other rider, Esteban, bounced back strongly from a DNF in the previous round, climbing from 16th to finish fourth.

(Edited by Asan)