Race Results – MotoGP 2011 – Rnd 4 – Le Mans
Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner secured victory for the first time in his career at the Le Mans circuit in Sunday’s Monster Energy Grand Prix de France. It was a close battle until the very end between two Italians for second place but it was the second Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso who clinched the 20 points, ahead of Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) who achieved his first rostrum riding the Desmosedici. Stoner took his 25th premier class career win after a dominant ride to pull away at the front and win by a margin of over 14 seconds. With his second win of the season, the Australian has now jumped up to second place in the standings, 12 points behind Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing). It was a record-breaking attendance for the French GP with 88,400 fans attending the Le Mans circuit on Sunday. The rain managed to stay away and an eventful race was enjoyed by the large and enthusiastic crowd. There was action throughout the field but at the end all eyes were on the dice between Dovizioso and Rossi. As in the previous race in Portugal, the Honda rider managed to deny the advances of the nine-time World Champion and record his best finish of this year’s campaign so far, whilst Rossi scored his best result of the season four rounds in. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who had made one his trademark rocket starts, led Stoner for the first lap until his team-mate came through on the next lap to take control of the race. The Spaniard stayed with the race leader for the first half of the 28-lap race, until he fell into the clutches of Simoncelli. The Italian passed the Repsol Honda rider on lap 17 but then a controversial incident occurred between the two when Pedrosa attempted to reclaim his second position and the two touched, sending Pedrosa crashing out. It was later confirmed that Pedrosa had broken his right collarbone, whilst Race Direction declared during the course of the race that Simoncelli had made an illegal manoeuvre, and served him with a ride through penalty. The 24 year-old eventually finished in fifth position and lost his opportunity of scoring his first ever podium in MotoGP. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing), making his 150th Grand Prix start and becoming the youngest rider ever to do so, had a bad start to his preparations on Sunday after a crash in warm up which wrecked his bike and left the Spaniard with an injured finger. After barging through on Dovizioso early on in the race for a top four place, the 2010 MotoGP World Champion slipped down the order after being re-passed by the Repsol Honda rider and by his fierce rivals, Simoncelli and Rossi, but eventually placed fourth. Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) equalled his best result of 2011 with sixth place, the American lost out to Simoncelli after the Italian got the better of him despite his ride through penalty. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was seventh, ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) who had a lonely race in eighth. Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) won the race-long battle to finish in ninth. The Spaniard had been involved in a very exciting tussle with Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) who finished tenth, Toni Elías (LCR Honda), 11th and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) 12th. After a difficult start to the season upon his return to MotoGP, Elías was showing signs of the ability which took him to the 2010 Moto2 World Championship and was up to 11th place in a five-rider battle in the early part of the race, but had a massive moment and was lucky to keep hold of his Honda as he dropped to the back of the group. The 28 year-old did manage to pick his way through a number of the riders after a difficult four rounds of the season. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who had qualified an impressive sixth on his first visit to the Le Mans circuit, suffered a lowside when in ninth place on lap five and had to return his machine back to the pits for his first non finish in his rookie campaign. It was not a good day for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 in their home race in France after Colin Edwards also crashed mid way through the race but managed to get back out to pick up three points in 13th place. It was not a happy day for the French fans who had hoped to see Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) pick up his best result of the season. The French rider crashed into the gravel on lap two and walked back to the pits dejectedly. Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) suffered a similar fate as he crashed out towards the end of the race. – HRC Report Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) scored his second MotoGP victory on a Honda in today’s French Grand Prix to move into second place in the World Championship point standings. Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) scored a fine second-place finish to secure a brilliant one-two for Repsol Honda. But what could have been a perfect day for the team was spoiled by a mid-race incident, which saw the luckless Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) crash and break a collarbone after tangling with Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V). Simoncelli was subsequently punished with a ride-through penalty that demoted him from second place to fifth. Stoner dominated this weekend just as he ruled the season-opening Qatar GP in March, topping free practice, qualifying and the race. And yet the race wasn’t without its moments for the Australian who overheated his clutch on the grid and therefore didn’t make his usual fast getaway. Nevertheless Stoner didn’t lose his cool and had muscled his way back into second by the end of the first lap, right behind Pedrosa. The following lap he moved into the lead and the two Honda riders quickly pulled clear of the pack, once again demonstrating the remarkable performance of the 2011 RC212V. Stoner, however, couldn’t make the break. Whenever he upped his pace, his team-mate responded with impressive speed, establishing a new lap record on lap nine. Just before half-distance Stoner did finally open a small gap, leaving Pedrosa to deal with the advancing Simoncelli. Simoncelli passed Pedrosa at Garage Vert on lap 18, ran wide, putting the pair side by side as they sped towards the Chemin aux Boeuf left/right chicane. The Italian was later on the brakes and rode round the outside into the left-hander, leaving his Spanish rival with nowhere to go, which caused the pair to collide. Simoncelli stayed on, Pedrosa fell, fracturing his right collarbone, another unlucky blow for the former 250 and 125 World Champion. The controversial collision left Simoncelli clear in second place, but Race Direction decided to impose a ride-through penalty, which he took with four laps remaining. The punishment dropped the former 250 World Champion to seventh, but during the final few laps he fought back to fifth, ten seconds behind reigning MotoGP World Champion and current points leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who finished off the podium for the first time this year. With Simoncelli knocked down the order, the duel for second was fought out between Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi (Ducati), all the way to the finish. Earlier in the race Dovizioso had survived a scare when Lorenzo ran into him at turn two, but he came back strongly to get the better of Lorenzo. Later in the race Rossi got past his fellow Italian, but Dovizioso had a plan for the final lap and used some superb late-braking moves to keep Rossi behind him. The result gave a delighted Dovizioso his first podium appearance of the year. Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) spent much of the race alone, lapping at a consistent pace that put him eighth at the end of the 28 laps. Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP RC212V) had a very different race, battling back and forth with Hector Barbera (Ducati), Karel Abrahams (Ducati), Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati). On lap 15 Elias was leading the group when he had a big moment, which lost him crucial positions. He took the chequered flag in 11th place, in the wheel tracks of Barbera and Abrahams. There were five crashes: Pedrosa, Capirossi, Colin Edwards (Yamaha), Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) and Randy de Puniet (Ducati). Reigning 125 World Champion Marc Marquez (Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter) won his first Moto2 success in stunning style at Le Mans. The teenage rookie came from behind to win the enthralling race by an impressive 1.9s. Amazingly, this was his also Marquez’s first Moto2 points score, after he had tumbled out of his first three races in the Honda-powered series. Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing Moto2-Moriwaki) and Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex) completed the podium, with Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2-Suter) and Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2-Suter) finishing a close fourth and fifth. Marquez, who had qualified sixth fastest, completed the first lap in ninth place, caught the lead group before half-distance, cleverly worked his way through into the lead and then broke away, leaving those four men to dispute second place. The Spaniard was strongest through Le Mans’ daunting high-speed first turn, where he briefly seized the advantage on several occasions, finally making the move stick with five laps to go. During his winning ride Marquez also broke the Moto2 lap record by 0.6s. Takahashi saved his best for last to score his second consecutive podium result. Although he couldn’t go with Marquez, the Japanese fought with Bradl to the very end, crossing the line just metres ahead of the German, Simon and Luthi. Just six tenths of a second covered the foursome at the finish line. Bradl led the first 15 laps until he ran into side grip issues, which took him from first place to fourth in the space of just one lap. During the final few laps he rallied strongly to get the better of Luthi, who also succumbed to Simon on the final lap. Bradl’s third-place finish stretches his World Championship lead to 28 points over Simon who moves into second, taking over from Andrea Iannone (Speed Master-Suter) who slid out of the race at the Chemin aux Boeuf chicane on the first lap. Aleix Espargaro (Pons HP40-Pons Kalex) was with the lead group earlier in the race but slipped back to a lonely, but satisfying sixth-place finish, his best result since joining Moto2 for the 2011 season. Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project-FTR) had a lonely ride to seventh place until he was almost caught in the final stages by a train of riders led by Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP-Suter). Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing-Tech 3) finished 1.6 seconds behind Aegerter and just ahead of Alex De Angelis (JIR Moto2-Motobi). Local star Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing-Suter) was the top Frenchman in 11th, just ahead of Randy Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing-Kalex) and Pol Espargaro (HP Tuenti Speed Up-FTR). Mike Di Meglio (Tech 3 Racing-Tech 3) also featured well in that group until he slid off with two laps to go. The MotoGP circus now enjoys two weekends off before commencing a busy period with four races over five weekends, commencing with the Catalan Grand Prix outside Barcelona on June 5. Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: race winner – “The whole weekend has gone so well for us, arriving here from the Portugal test with the bike almost the same and we have improved small things here and there and only needed to adjust the set-up for this circuit. We went into the race confident. At the beginning of the race Dani was very fast and he was difficult to pass as he as being cautious. When I overtook him I thought I might be able to take some advantage, but he was able to match my times and follow me for some laps, so I continued to push more than I prefer and eventually I put a gap between us. From this point the race came to me and I was able to focus on my consistency and win. A big thanks to the team and everyone for all their hard work, but my thoughts are with Dani at this moment. I hope he can recover soon as he is a very strong contender for this championship.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 2nd – “I’m really happy with the second position today, it’s so important for the championship and it arrives after a start of the season where we didn’t get the results we expected. We did a very good job with the team since the beginning of the weekend and I knew I could fight for the podium, but I didn’t expect second place. I had a great battle with Valentino and to beat him always has a special taste, and it’s good fun to get the podium after a hard fight. I was losing a lot in two areas, but I was strong in braking, so I made a good strategy and once I overtook him, I pushed 100 percent not to have him too close especially in turns 10 and 11, where he was faster. Concerning the race, I had a good start, Lorenzo’s strong overtaking slowed me down a little, but then I pushed to recover the gap. We had good pace, but we need to be faster. We have to keep on working to reduce the gap to stay with the front riders. Dani today was very unlucky and I hope he can recover soon.” Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 5th “I am unhappy because a result that was within my reach was denied and, above all, because of the fact that Pedrosa is hurt. In my opinion the incident went like this: Pedrosa was having a bit of difficulty – I had pulled alongside him and passed him. When he passed me back I was not intentionally trying to resist, and my telemetry shows that I got on the brakes at the same point as on previous laps. I think that he had hit the brakes well before the corner, and I found myself on the outside of him and in front on the entry to the corner. I didn’t want to back off, so I left him with a metre between myself and the kerb in order to go in. I saw that it was tight, so I tried to adjust my position. That was when he touched my back wheel and went down. I repeat that I am unhappy about it, and I want to avoid any controversy regarding penalisation, but I believe that my ride-through was a result of all the talk over the past few days. Now I have to focus on Barcelona.” Hiroshi Aoyama, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 8th “I am fairly satisfied, because I was feeling good on the bike. Despite this, the lap times were slightly slower than we were expecting. I have taken more points in the standings, and I am confident about Barcelona.” Toni Elias, LCR Honda MotoGP: 11th – “We have been afraid about the warm-up of the tyres because the track temperature was colder compared to practice, but at the end it was not so bad. Our rear traction problem is not solved yet but now I can see progressive improvements and I want to thank the team for their good work. When I was leading the small group in the back I thought that I could catch Aoyama, but suddenly I suffered a ‘bike shaking’ and I banged my feet on the fairing. My leather security airbag activated and I could not ride properly for a couple of laps until it went down. After that I pushed to catch the group again but could not finish in the top ten. Anyway it has been a positive week end and I hope to see further improvements at my home GP at Catalunya.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: DNF – “I was having a good race. The goal was to ensure another podium and I had it in my grasp. But it counts for nothing. Simoncelli overtook me, I passed him back and I had the better line, he just came into me releasing the brakes and I could do nothing. I leave here with a broken collarbone and he with a ride-through penalty, good for him! Yet again I come out worse off. We only just recovered from the nightmare of the last operation and now I’m hurt again. It is very unfair, I don’t deserve it.” – Ducati Report The French Grand Prix saw Valentino Rossi score his first podium finish aboard a Ducati, following a race that was marked by excitement and surprises. Nicky Hayden started from the fourth row, but advanced to seventh place by the finish. The Italian celebrated his third-place finish after a weekend of hard work and constant improvement, during which he and his crew progressively improved the bike’s setup until finding a good compromise for the race. Sixth at the end of the first lap, Rossi stayed just a few tenths from Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, who fought over fourth place until an incident between Pedrosa and Simoncelli with ten laps remaining. At that point, the trio began battling over second place, and in the end, Valentino finished third, behind Dovizioso and winner Casey Stoner. Nicky Hayden fought over sixth place with Ben Spies, and although he had to concede the position to his compatriot in the end, he was pleased with the progress made over the course of the weekend. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 7th Vittoriano Guareschi (Team Manager) – Yamaha Report The Grand Prix of France at Le Mans was today witness to yet another incident packed race played out in front of the packed grandstands. World Champion Jorge Lorenzo suffered a low side in the morning warm up, sustaining a minor injury to his finger but was otherwise unhurt Lorenzo held his grid position off the line as the race got underway, battling up to fourth with 14 laps to go and taking Dovizioso on the second corner for the position. Having managed to close the gap to the second and third riders, a mistake caused him to run wide and lose ground, eventually crossing the line still in fourth. With previous closest championship rival Dani Pedrosa crashing out of the race, the results mean Lorenzo has now extended his lead in the Championship to 78, 12 points clear of second place. Ben Spies leaves France happy to have put the misfortunes of the previous two rounds behind him. The Texan also kept grid position off the line but made two small mistakes in the first laps, losing time to those in front. Consistent race pace saw him close down on Colin Edwards in fifth until an unfortunate crash by the fellow Texan caused Spies to run wide to avoid collision. He recovered and managed to fight off Nicky Hayden to eventually take sixth. The result doubles his point score to 20, placing him in 12th position, only 2 points from Marco Simoncelli in eighth. Jorge Lorenzo / Position 4th – Time +21.075 Ben Spies / Position 6th – Time +31.609 Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director Edwards and Crutchlow battle for top six in Le Mans Edwards battled to a determined 13th place finish after he’d tumbled out of seventh position at the first chicane on lap 14. The Texan had produced a stunning early charge to keep himself in contention with a group featuring Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo, but lost the front-end of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 at the first left-hander. Edwards lost his left footpeg in the slow speed fall but remounted and returned to the pits. Thanks to the quick work of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew, he was quickly back on track and able to score three World Championship points that keep him inside the top ten of the overall rankings after four rounds. Crutchlow’s bid to claim a career best premier class finish was ended on the sixth of 28-laps while he was lying in ninth position and building up his speed to launch an attack on 2009 World Superbike champion and former Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Ben Spies. Crutchlow was only 0.2s behind Spies when he lost the front-end at Turn 6. Determined to get back in the race, Crutchlow’s hopes of fighting his way back into the points were ended by a minor throttle issue that prevented him from continuing. Colin Edwards / Position 13th – 21 points Cal Crutchlow / DNF – 21 poitns Herve Poncharal / Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team Manager – Suzuki Report Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista produced another strong performance as he fought fairing-to-fairing right to the chequered flag at Le Mans today. Bautista got off the line well at the start of the race, but was boxed in on the first couple of corners and found himself relegated to last place by the end of the first lap. Bautista composed himself and set about catching and passing the riders in front of him and on lap five he got involved in a five man battle that would carry on until the end of the race. Bautista picked each rider off over the middle section of the race to move up to ninth place, but a mistake later on saw him lose two places. The battling Spaniard was then hit from behind by Loris Capirossi, as Bautista also came together with Hector Barbera – an incident that saw Capirossi crash out. This caused Bautista to lose time to the pack and although he fought back to the group, he didn’t have enough laps for another attack and had to settle for 12th place, just 0.463 seconds from ninth position. Over 88,000 enthusiastic French fans watched the race at trackside, as the storm clouds that threatened stayed away and allowed for a dry race. Honda’s Casey Stoner completed a dominant weekend’s work by winning the race by over 14 seconds from team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo still leads the riders’ standing after four rounds. Rizla Suzuki will now travel to Spain for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship that sees the Montmelo circuit near Barcelona stage race five in this season’s calendar on Sunday 5th June. Álvaro Bautista: “This is my first race this year because in Estoril I raced alone, but today I was able to fight with other riders! We managed to finish the race and get more kilometres under our belts, but I did not have the same feeling today as we had yesterday. I felt like I had no good rear grip in the exit of the corner and the bike was spinning a lot and I struggled to stay with the group going for places in the top-10. I made a mistake when I tried to pass Abraham later on as I touched the gear lever and went into neutral and lost some time, and I also had a bit of an incident with Loris and Hector. I tried to catch the group at the end, but it was very difficult to get past them. This is another race completed and I felt more competitive than in Estoril. This race was good for getting the racing feeling back and being able to overtake other riders and fight with them. I did many overtakes under braking and enjoyed the race very much – but not the result! I think if my rhythm had been better I could have finished in the top-10. “I want to thank all my team, because it has been a difficult weekend with some strange weather conditions, we tried to do the best we could and make a good bike for these conditions.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “This weekend has been a successful second step for Álvaro’s recovery, and the fact that he’s ridden the bike in Estoril and here in Le Mans is a great result in itself – compared to what most people involved in MotoGP thought would happen. The general consensus was to come back at Catalunya, and that was as good as we could expect. Now we have two race-weekends under our belt, his first battle with other riders since Valencia last year and a good platform to really start our season. In Barcelona – the Rizla Suzuki goes well there, the rider will be back to full strength and we’re all looking forward to it!” – Bridgestone Report Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear (asymmetric): Soft, Medium Casey Stoner completed his master class today with a dominant victory on Bridgestone’s new soft rear tyre, setting a provisional new lap record and setting a new record total race time by a staggering 25seconds. As the track temperature was lower under overcast skies, every rider today chose the new soft rear slick alongside the harder front tyre. On just the fourth lap of the race, Stoner dipped under the lap record and proceeded to deliver a string of consistent laps in the 1m 33second bracket to set his fastest total race time. Marco Simoncelli also went faster than the existing lap record but it was Dani Pedrosa who was the fastest man overall, setting the new lap record at 1m 33.617 seconds to go some 0.6seconds faster than the previous benchmark. Stoner led from the second lap and, after an intense battle with Repsol Honda teammate Pedrosa in the first half, pulled away from the field. Further back the sailing was not so smooth however. As Pedrosa slipped into the clutches of Simoncelli in third, the two came together entering turn nine and Pedrosa crashed, breaking his collarbone. Simoncelli was given a ride-through penalty for the incident that dropped him to an eventual fifth. A battle for fourth was already raging between Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi and the demise of the two Hondas promoted this to a fight for second, which was ultimately claimed by Dovizioso in his best result of the season just ahead of Rossi in his first podium finish aboard the Ducati. Taka Horio – General Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department Masao Azuma – Chief Field Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Race Winner |
Moto2 Race Results | 125 Race Results |
1 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA 2 / Yuki TAKAHASHI / JPN 1.982 3 / Stefan BRADL / GER / 2.237 4 / Julian SIMON / SPA / 2.349 5 / Thomas LUTHI / SWI / 2.609 6 / Aleix ESPARGARO / SPA / 12.295 7 / Simone CORSI / ITA / 18.739 8 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / 18.918 9 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / 20.408 10 / Alex DE ANGELIS / RSM 20.566 11 / Jules CLUZEL / FRA / 23.225 12 / Randy KRUMMENACHE / SWI / 23.359 13 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / 23.676 14 / Michele PIRRO / ITA / 24.756 15 / Max NEUKIRCHNER / GER 25.063CHAMPIONSHIP: 1 BRADL 77, 2 SIMON 49, 3 IANNONE 48, 4 TAKAHASHI 47, 5 LUTHI 47, 6 CORSI 46, 7 DE ANGELIS 32, 8 SMITH 27, 9 MARQUEZ 25, 10 AEGERTER 24, 11 PIRRO 17, 12 ESPARGARO 15, 13 CLUZEL 14, 14 ESPARGARO 13, 15 KRUMMENACHER 13. | 1 / Maverick VIÑALES / SPA / 2 / Nicolas TEROL / SPA / 0.048 3 / Efren VAZQUEZ / SPA / 6.836 4 / Hector FAUBEL / SPA / 8.298 5 / Johann ZARCO / FRA / 8.59 6 / Jonas FOLGER / GER / 10.236 7 / Sandro CORTESE / GER / 10.667 8 / Sergio GADEA / SPA / 15.642 9 / Miguel OLIVEIRA / POR / 22.838 10 / Luis SALOM / SPA / 30.901 11 / Alberto MONCAYO / SPA 33.796 12 / Simone GROTZKYJ / ITA 34.413 13 / Louis ROSSI / FRA / 34.696 14 / Adrian MARTIN / SPA / 41.236 15 / Alexis MASBOU / FRA / 56.943CHAMPIONSHIP: 1 TEROL 95, 2 CORTESE 59, 3 ZARCO 53, 4 FOLGER 52, 5 VAZQUEZ 46, 6 VIÑALES 45, 7 GADEA 28 8 FAUBEL 23, 9 OLIVEIRA 22, 10 SALOM 22, 11 KENT 17, 12 MONCAYO 14, 13 MARTIN 13, 14 KORNFEIL 12, 15 GROTZKYJ 12. |
— Moto2
In his 50th Grand Prix start, Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) celebrated his first victory in the Moto2 category in his rookie season. The Spaniard grabbed victory after a fierce battle throughout the race, having started from sixth on the grid. Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) held off Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) for second place after a titanic tussle on the final lap.
The Spaniard took the first Suter victory of the season as three different motorcycles finished inside the top three, with Takahashi on the Moriwaki and Bradl on the Kalex. Márquez, who had failed to finish the first two races of the year and had zero points to his name prior to Round 4, fought through a gaggle of riders to take the leading spot from Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) in the final laps. As drops of rain began to fall in the final six laps the reigning 125cc World Champion quickly pulled an advantage and crossed the line just under two seconds ahead of Takahashi to secure his 11th win in Grand Prix racing.
Gresini Racing’s Takahashi claimed his first back to back rostrum finishes in his career with second place, after he had snuck past Bradl towards the end of the race and then began his dice with the eventual race winner. Championship leader and pole sitter Bradl had led from the start of the race but after Lüthi had overtaken him on lap 15, Takahashi then sent the German rider wide which allowed Márquez through into a rostrum position. The Kalex rider maintains his lead at the top of the Championship standings, with a 28-point gap over his nearest rival, Julián Simón.
Simón (Mapfre Aspar) demoted Lüthi to fifth position on the final lap. The Swiss rider, who has still yet to achieve his first victory in the Moto2 class, was unable to pull away at the front when he was originally leading and was caught and passed. Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40) achieved his best result of the season with sixth place. The Spaniard had been part of the leading group for the first half of the race but faded as the race went on.
Seventh went to Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project) who was involved in a fight with Bradley Smith (Tech 3) who finished eighth. The British rider made up many positions at the start to claim more points in his rookie Moto2 season. Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) continued his good form from Estoril with ninth place, ahead of Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) in tenth.
Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) who was second in the Championship going into this race, crashed out on lap one, the Italian rider was unhurt. Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) retired in the early stages with a clutch problem.
Marc Marquez, Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter: winner “I’m very happy. My start wasn’t so good – we need to improve that – but I kept my concentration and step by step I caught the front riders. I have to say thanks to my team – we worked a lot on tyres and race set-up, and in the end the bike was very good. I enjoyed the race and now I want to enjoy this moment. After the first three races, it was difficult for me to have the same confidence as, say, Stefan. But the team has helped me a lot – they are always there for me. During the first few laps the feeling wasn’t so good – it was a little scary on cold tyres. Now we wait for Montmelo [Catalunya].”
Yuki Takahashi, Gresini Racing Moto2-Moriwaki: 2nd “It was a very exciting race. I got a good start and stayed in the top group. I wanted to push forward but everybody was so fast. It was a big fight between us four guys and there was a bit of touching. Thanks so much to my team. Two second-place results in the last two races is great for the team and makes me very confident for the next races and for the championship. Now I go to Barcelona – where I won the race last year – with a very high motivation.”
Stefan Bradl, Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex: 3rd “I was trying my maximum. Marquez and Takahashi used different tyres to me. At the beginning I had a good rhythm so I could push hard and make a small gap, but during the second half of the race I struggled with edge grip. I was losing out to the other guys on the exits, so I had to push very hard at the corner entries. I pushed to the maximum and this podium result is very important for the championship.”
— 125
Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) claimed his first ever victory in the 125cc class in just his fourth race by beating Nicolás Terol (Bankia Aspar) on the final lap at in a thrilling race long battle. Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) was third.
Under ominous black clouds and in very cool conditions, the race was run without the predicted rain. Rookie Viñales who achieved his best qualifying result of his rookie campaign with third place on the front row, pressurised the championship leader from the start and was the only rider able to match his pace throughout the race.
The 16 year old had finished fourth in Portugal, passed Terol who appeared to let the youngster through mid way through the race. Mind games between the front two were deployed as Viñales then returned the favour to allow the Spaniard back through. A difference of 96 race starts separated the dice at the front, with the teenager only competing in his fourth race, compared to Terol making his 100th race start. The leading duo pulled a large advantage of six seconds over the next group of Vázquez and co. The 22 year old regained control of the lead of the race with four laps to go but Viñales had other ideas on the final lap of the race when he was able to get the better of the pole sitter and cross the line just five hundredths of a second in front of the Bankia Aspar rider.
After collecting 20 points, Terol still has a massive lead in the championship standings, with a 35 point advantage over Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany). Vázquez, fourth in Qatar and with two podiums to his name in the 125cc class, took the final spot on the rostrum and his first podium of the season after he had been involved in a six rider fight for the podium. Vázquez made it an all Spanish rostrum and the top four places at this race in Le Mans were all Spanish, with Terol’s Bankia Aspar team mate finishing in fourth position which was his best result of the year after several crashes in the previous races.
Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) flying the flag for his home fans, made a disastrous start which dropped him down the order, but the Frenchman climbed his way back up the order and narrowly missed out on achieving his third successive rostrum. Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) who has had two rostrums in his 125cc career was sixth after being involved in the group of riders contending for third place. After a decent start Cortese, the German rider had to settle for seventh place, but remains in second in the championship. Team mate to rookie victor Viñales, Sergio Gadea (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) finished in eighth.
Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Team Andalucía Banca Cívica) finished ninth after starting outside of the top ten and it was Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) who secured the final place in the top ten. Alexis Masbou (WTR-Ten10 Racing) who was replacing Sarath Kumar (WTR-Ten10 Racing) who is racing in the Spanish championship this weekend, produced a noteable performance by finishing 15th and scoring the last point on offer.