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Jack Miller was victorious in a challenging French GP at the Le Mans circuit. Dry conditions at the start of the race were suddenly overshadowed by pouring rain, which forced all the riders to change onto the wet tyres before the Sarthe sunshine shone for the last 10 laps of the race.
The Aussie overcame a whole host of challenges that were hurled at him in his way to victory, as during the 27 laps of the race, he went through the gravel trap as he tiptoed to the pit lane to switch to the wet bike. Not only this, he negotiated two long-lap penalties – all in difficult wet conditions, before the track dried out and he rode the last 12 laps of the race on wet tyres around a dry track.
MotoGP used the Bugatti layout of the world-famous Le Mans circuit, which had claimed over 100 crashers throughout the weekend, predominantly at the tight Dunlop chicane at turns three and four and the never-ending Le Chappelle corner two corners later. The circuit is one of the riders’ favourites because of the thrilling but challenging nature of the track, which is truly satisfying to get right.
Starting Grid
On pole was home-hero Fabio Quartararo, as he set a 1:32.600 in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session in tricky conditions.
Alongside the Frenchman on the front row was his Factory Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales, whose time was less than a tenth slower than his teammate. The Spaniard lined up ahead of the winner last time out in Jerez, Jack Miller who qualified third.
Despite a trip-up in a practice bike swap at the end of FP3, Franco Morbidelli started from the front of the second row, ahead of Johann Zarco and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, who was sat on provisional pole for a large portion of qualifying.
MotoGP veteran Valentino Rossi scored his best qualifying position since the opening round of the season in Qatar as he qualified ninth.
As It Happened
On the grid, dark clouds surrounded the circuit, however, the race was declared as a dry race.
Off the line, it was Miller who led into the Dunlop chicane at turn three – The Aussie utilised his Ducati’s controversial ‘hole-shot device’ to blast of the line and take an early lead ahead of Vinales and Quartararo who dropped to third.
At the exit of the tricky turn nine and 10 chicane on the opening lap, Pol Espargaro had a wobble. This gave Rossi and Morbidelli a chance to overtake the Honda, however, Espargaro stood firm and squeezed Morbidelli into a bottleneck at turn 11.
The Italian clipped the rear tyre of the Spaniard’s Honda and was sent into the gravel trap before he lost grip and crashed, and despite some pain to his knee that he twisted in the practice bike swap, the Italian was able to remount and continue.
On lap two, Vinales took the lead away from Miller into the tough turn three as the Spaniard executed a tidy overtake.
On the very next lap, bikes were being prepared for the wet conditions in the pit lane as the rain started to fall.
At the start of lap four, the rain flags started to be frantically waved by the trackside marshals which declared the race as a ‘flag to flag’ running – the first time in four years. This gave the riders the opportunity to switch to the wet compound tyre if they so wished.
Chaos ensued on lap five as the rain continued to fall. Marc Marquez started sniffing around the lead battle between Miller, Quartararo and Suzuki’s Alex Rins. Quartararo overtook Miller into turn three, just before Marquez took advantage of a Rins mistake at turn seven.
Later that lap, Miller ran wide into turn 11 as he went on an expedition into the gravel trap, but managed to negotiate the challenge and re-join the race.
The whole grid came into the pits at the end of lap five, as Marquez and Quartararo went into the pits neck-and-neck.
Unfortunately for Quartararo, he ran into his teammate’s bike slot which lost him vital time. This incident was later reviewed by race direction which resulted in him being punished with a long-lap penalty.
Ducati duo Miller and Bagnaia were handed a double long-lap penalty as they were caught speeding on the entry of the pit lane.
On the exit of the pit lane, Rins took a tumble at turn three and was another victim of Le Mans’ unforgiving surface. The Spaniard was able to remount his Suzuki machine and re-join the race.
On lap eight, Marquez started to pull away from Quartararo in second – who was being reeled in by Miller in third.
Later that lap, at the tricky turn 14, Marquez’s Honda threw the Spaniard out of the lead of the race after a high side. Another rider fell but was able to continue with the race.
This promoted Takaaki Nakagami into third after the Japanese rider was alert and made up several positions following the bike swaps.
Despite taking two long lap penalties, Miller in second continued to close in on the French leader and on lap 12, Miller retook the lead of the race from Quartararo at turn six, which claimed its fair share of victims throughout the race weekend.
Later that lap, Quartararo took his long-lap penalty which came as a result of the Yamaha confusion in the pit lane.
Another rider who had started from the rear of the grid and last year’s French Grand Prix winner, Danilo Petrucci, found himself in seventh position after his fellow KTM rider Miguel Oliviera crashed at turn three on lap 13.
On the next lap, Johann Zarco found himself up to fourth and closing in on Nakagami in third, which was a move he made stick a lap later as his Ducati machine effortlessly blasted past the Honda of the Japanese rider at turn two.
Marc Marquez was on a quest to collect as many points as possible following his crash eight laps earlier as he made a brave move on Iker Lecuona at turn four which moved him up to 13th.
Later that lap, Aleix Espargaro was the second Aprilia to suffer a mechanical failure on the back straight between turn eight and nine – the identical place that his teammate, Lorenzo Savadori, had retired at a few laps earlier.
The track continued to dry up, which caught out Marc Marquez at turn six on lap 18– the Spaniard crashed for the second time this race and subsequently retired.
Home hero Zarco started taking chunks of time out of Quartararo and leader Miller, the timing trajectory predicted that the Frenchman would take the lead on the final lap.
At the start of lap 21, Petrucci promoted himself up to fifth as he overtook Nakagami. The Italian rode a fantastic race and was hoping to catch up to Alex Marquez in fourth.
Later that lap, Zarco could smell his compatriot’s blood before he blasted past Quartararo over the line. The Pramac Ducati rider effortlessly pulled away from the Yamaha rider and started to close in on leader Miller with five and a half laps to go.
The fascinating battle for fourth wasn’t over either, as Francesco Bagnaia replicated Zarco’s move on Quartararo a lap before, as he overtook Petrucci and got himself into fifth at the start of lap 22.
Bagnaia mirrored his move on Petrucci a lap later as the Ducati rider overtook Alex Marquez and promoted himself into fourth. Later that lap, Petrucci followed Bagnaia past the Spaniard, demoting the LCR Honda rider down into sixth.
In the end, it was Ducati’s Jack Miller who was victorious and became the first Australian to win back-to-back MotoGP races since Casey Stoner in 2012.
Miller finished ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco and an ecstatic Quartararo in third – who’d said before the race about how weak Yamaha were in the wet, so this podium felt like a victory for the Frenchman.
Rounding out the top 10 was Bagnaia, Petrucci, Alex Marquez, Nakagami, Pol Espargaro, Iker Lecuona who snatched ninth place away from Maverick Vinales on the last lap with the Yamaha rider finishing 10th.
What’s next?
Quartararo reclaims the lead of the championship by a single point over Bagnaia, who is 11 points ahead of race winner Miller.
The MotoGP paddock takes a two-week break before the Italian Grand Prix, which is held at the stunning Mugello circuit where Bagnaia will be hoping to bounce straight back ahead of Quartararo in the Championship battle on home soil.
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