Amazing! What a race at Le Mans and with a trio of top level drivers, Jorge Martín, Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez literally fighting until the final seconds. Martín won and achieved the double on French soil. Incredible end to the race.
After the first indications, he confirms: the French GP is, for the second consecutive year, the GP with the highest turnout ever! There are 297,471 people on the circuit.
At the start of the race, with 27 laps, Jorge Martín won yesterday’s Sprint and started from pole position. Francesco Bagnaia, who retired yesterday, was also on the front row of the grid, as was Maverick Viñales.
An intense start to the race saw Bagnaia take the lead, with Martín responding briefly, but the #1 would then take the lead and Aleix Espargaró in third. Fabio Di Giannantonio was fourth and Viñales fifth.
It wasn’t long before Pedro Acosta was fifth, beating Viñales, with Enea Bastianini seventh, Marc Márquez eighth, Marco Bezzecchi ninth and Fabio Quartararo tenth.
On the next lap Márquez hit Bastianini and a few moments later here it is: Acosta’s first MotoGP accident, at turn 8, when he was trying to finish third. The rookie crashed between Espargaró and DiGia and miraculously did not involve any other riders.
The next to fall was Bezzecchi, at turn 6. On the track, all eyes were on Marc Márquez, who was closing in on Viñales.
With five laps completed, Martín was trying to put pressure on Bagnaia and the gap between the two was 0.176s. Espargaró was 0.609s behind the leading duo and right behind him his teammate was still under pressure from M. Márquez, with the #12 and #93 separated by 0.174s.
Amid the battle for podium places, DiGia beat Espargaró but the Aprilia rider soon fell back to third place.
Dark clouds were starting to accumulate at Le Mans and it could start raining at any moment, with the teams ready and the second bike prepared for the eventuality of a Flag-to-Flag race.
In the final laps and a half Espargaró struggled and slipped from third to sixth place, with DiGia following him in third, Viñales in fourth and M. Márquez in fifth. The top ten included Miguel Oliveira in ninth and Brad Binder in tenth.
Bagnaia continued to lead by 0.503s over Martín, who in turn had 0.840s over DiGia. Meanwhile Franco Morbidelli had beaten Binder to close the top ten for the moment.
Enea Bastianini, sixth, was penalized with a Long Lap for cutting Turn 9, which could limit his position. He then completed the Long Lap and returned to ninth place.
Halfway through the race, this is what the top ten looked like:
Joan Mir raised the yellow flags when he crashed in the fourth sector, in a phase of the race in which the fight for podium places was once again heated: M. Márquez was getting ever closer to #49, with just 0.190s which separated the riders in command from the Desmosedici GP23.
Márquez’s attack happened but DiGia closed the door and this allowed Viñales to get closer.
In the space of a minute, Jack Miller crashed, as did local favorite Fabio Quartararo, and Márquez confirmed that he had overtaken DiGia, who, with an exit from the best line on the track, also lost position to Viñales. In the lead, new enthusiasm for Martín who was closer than ever to Bagnaia: 0.233s separated his rivals.
And the situation for DiGia was no better, with him taking a shortcut and being penalized with a Long Lap. At the front, the battle was becoming more and more intense between Bagnaia and Martín!
With eight laps to go Martín confirmed the overtaking but Bagnaia handed the maneuver back to his opponent and returned to the lead of the race. Who was profiting from this battle? Márquez, 0.944s behind the leader. All scenarios were open.
The overtaking move was confirmed one lap later and Márquez was now leading the race by 0.450s.
Martín was trying to escape and was gaining 0.289s on Bagnaia, who had Márquez just 0.109s on his heels.
With four laps to go, the top ten standings were as follows:
So much intensity at Le Mans! The top three were very close and the emotion that was being experienced in France was palpable. One mistake, no matter how small, would have changed everything. Martín led by 0.146s over Bagnaia, who in turn had Márquez at 0.332s.
At the start of the last lap the top three were within 0.275s!!
Bagnaia was on the attack but Márquez went on the attack and overtook the Italian and this played in favor of Martín who got the double at Le Mans! Márquez was second and Bagnaia third.
