Works Honda lead rider Dani Pedrosa made the best of very difficult conditions at Le Mans to win the French MotoGP for the first time in his career, from a brave Cal Crutchlow (on a second-string Yamaha!) and the sensation of the season, Marc Marquez. Pedrosa also took the lead in the points standings from his 20-year-old team mate and now leads with 83 points to Maquez’ 77.
South African rider Steven Odendaal, who is having a torrid introduction to Grand Prix racing on the Speed Up, battled to 21st in the Moto2 race while Brad Binder continued his string of good results with a solid eighth in Moto3.
MOTOGP
For the second consecutive year the field faced a wet track for the start of the Grand Prix de France and all of them elected to fit the Soft compound wet weather tyres for both front and rear wheels, although this resulted in an extremely difficult final few laps as the circuit dried out.
Pedrosa had crashed in qualifying, so he stayed out of trouble at the start, neatly passing Yamaha’s world champion, Jorge Lorenzo and moving up to challenge Ducati factory rider Andrea Dovizioso, who had muscled his way into the lead from a front row start. Pedrosa and he then swopped the lead a number of times before Pedrosa took over at half distance and held the lead to the end.
Yamaha Tech 3 rider Crutchlow fell in qualifying and sustained a fracture to the top of his shin bone, causing intense pain in his knee, but he made the most of the mixed conditions, starting from fourth and storming past former team mate Dovizioso in the closing stages.
The Ducati rider had led for a large portion of the race and just missed out on a rostrum result as Marquez fought back from a poor start and a succession of off-track moments to maintain his 100 percent podium finish record for 2013.
Nicky Hayden confirmed Ducati’s strongest result of the season by finishing fifth ahead of Honda privateer Alvaro Bautista, but it was a afternoon for Yamaha as Lorenzo struggled to make an impression and slid down the order to seventh, and Valentino Rossi, after dicing with his team mate in the early stages, fell while under pressure from Hayden.
Rossi kept the Yamaha alive, however, and rejoined to finish 12th.
RESULTS
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 43min17.707
2 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha +4.863sec
3 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda +6.949
4 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati +10.087
5 Nicky Hayden (United States) Ducati +18.471
6 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda +23.561
7 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha +27.961
8 Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati +40.775
9 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha +41.407
10 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda +1min00.995
POINTS after 4 of 18 rounds
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda – 83
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda – 77
3 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha – 66
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha - 55
5 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Ducati - 47
6 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati – 39
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda – 38
8 Nicky Hayden (United States) Ducati – 35
9 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) ART - 20
10 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati – 18
MOTO2
Scott Redding took his maiden Moto2 win at a rain-lashed Le Mans, with team mate Mika Kallio just more than a second behind in a Kalex 1-2, but the day was a disaster for a number of championship contenders.
Redding’s victory makes him the first British rider to win at Le Mans since Alan Carter’s 250cc triumph in 1983, but it wasn’t an easy one, as he dropped to ninth at the start off the wetter, right-hand side of the circuit.
Kalex riders Takaaki Nakagami and Pol Espargaro led the early stages until Espargaro and championship-leading team mate Esteve Rabat fell in formation at Musee corner, leaving Nakagami with a three-second advantage – until he dumped it at the same corner four laps later!
Redding, however, was on the move, passing local hero Johann Zarco for the lead on lap eight, before coming under threat from team mate Kallio, who is usually stronger in the second half of the race.
But even heavier rain in the closing stages ended Redding’s charge, just before red flags ended the carnage on lap 24 of 26. The result was declared as at the end of lap 22, just before the heavens opened, which gave Redding the win from Kallio, despite the latter having been demoted by Xavier Simeon just before the red flags came out.
The Belgian Kalex rider had to be satisfied with the first podium finish of his career.
Moto2™ has now seen four different winners from as many races at the start of the 2013 season, with Redding now 24 points ahead of Rabat in the standings.
RESULTS
1 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex – 36min43.583
2 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex +1.090sec
3 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex + 1.234
4 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter +1.701
5 Johann Zarco (France) Suter +1.859
6 Mattia Pasini (Italy) Speed Up +12.272
7 Mike di Meglio (France) Motobi +12.378
8 Julian Simon (Spain) Kalex +29.712
9 Anthony West (Australia) Speed Up +30.479
10 Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Speed Up +31.235
21 Steven Odendaal (South Africa) Speed Up +1min48.007
MOTO3
Maverick Viñales won from pole position to become the first double Moto3 winner of the season, heading an all-Spanish, all-KTM podium after a well-judged ride. He got a clean start but it was Kalex KTM’s Jonas Folger who came off the front row to grab the lead under braking for Turn 3.
It took Viñales two attempts to make it stick, but he eventually edged back past Folger on lap nine. Folger tried too hard to come back, overshooting the Chemin aux Boeufs chicane and dropping to fourth KTM riders Alex Rins and Luis Salom.
Rins’ team mate Alex Marquez finished in the top five for the first time since Qatar, after Miguel Oliveira crashed his Mahindra at the start of Lap 4.
The biggest drama of the race came on lap 21 as KTM works rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin highsided at Chemin aux Boeufs while running seventh, landing in front of Niklas Ajo’s KTM and ending the race for both of them, promoting Jakub Kornfeil (Kalex KTM) to sixth and Romano Fenati (FTR Honda) and South African Brad Binder (Suter Honda) to seventh and eighth respectively, moving Binder up to fifth in the points standings.
Viñales then sealed his win by posting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate tour, extend his leading advantage to just over one second. The win saw him extend his championship lead to 13 points over Salom, with Rins a further 16 in arrears, paying the price for his crash during the Spanish Grand Prix.
RESULTS
1 Maverick Vinales (Spain) KTM – 42min05.448
2 Alex Rins (Spain) KTM +1.264sec
3 Luis Salom (Spain) KTM +1.387
4 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex KTM +14.593
5 Alex Marquez (Spain) KTM +37.949
6 Jakub Kornfeil (Czech Republic) Kalex KTM +40.295
7 Romano Fenati (Italy) FTR Honda +43.325
8 Brad Binder (South Africa) Suter Honda +43.537
9 Alexis Masbou (France) FTR Honda +45.511
10 Isaac Vinales (Spain) FTR Honda +45.674