Le Mans: Lorenzo landed!

A sensational lap record pace in qualification was converted with panache and a typical level of excellence by Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo at Le Mans today for the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France. The recently-turned twenty-nine year old led every single lap of the 28 on the chart at this atmospheric and sun-kissed circuit for his second victory from the five rounds of MotoGP so far this season. It was his 62nd career win and brought him to 101 premier class podiums; level with Dani Pedrosa as the most successful Spaniard in the history of the sport. Le Mans was also the second consecutive total shutout by the works Yamaha crew after Valentino Rossi’s triumph two weeks previously at Jerez in Spain and the Italian was second in France for a dominant one-two.

Engines were straining across the Bugatti circuit from Thursday night as the vibe of revelry that the French fans bring to this unique fixture pervaded the campsites, rang out through the night air and as practice, qualification and then three engaging races in MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 created a memorable 2016 edition.

For the twenty-ninth time Grand Prix came to Le Mans and for the seventeenth year in a row as the teams and riders continued to work out the Michelin ‘puzzle’ for grip, traction and optimum drive. The good weather helped. Temperatures hovered around the twenties as an early summer climate landed in northern France.

Lorenzo set out his intentions from Saturday’s Pole Position (63 and the most in the long annals of GP by any rider) and with the goal to repeat his 2015 win at Le Mans. A faultless launch from the first row provided a few precious tenths by the end of the first lap and he dashed clear. The Mallorcan, who now also fronts the MotoGP standings by five points with twelve splitting three riders, could not have put it better when he stated: “everything has been almost perfect.”

“In the race I knew Marquez had the chance to fight for the victory with me, or if he wasn’t very fast, he would have been second or third and that would have meant he would still have kept his first position in the championship, but he crashed,” he added. “Now in the championship three riders scored zero or very little points in one race, so in some way we are starting the from zero again after those races…but with us being five points ahead.”

Rossi superbly chased down Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez and had the better of the Ducati and Honda riders until both crashed simultaneously in freak circumstances on the same corner for what is sure to be a YouTube clip for the ages.

“Step by step I arrived to the back of Marquez and Dovi and at that moment I was a bit faster,” ’46’ said after his third podium appearance in a row. “I’m so happy because when you start from seventh position and you take twenty points it’s very good. The championship is wide open and we have to concentrate. I’m just third at this moment, so I have to think race-by-race and especially think of Mugello and try to be competitive there.”

Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Pol Espargaro cut through to fifth position after being competitive from Friday’s first laps in anger but there was calamity for teammate Bradley Smith as well as LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow who slipped into the loose French masonry. Smith in particular was jostling for the top five with the Catalan and Rossi. “I went too close to the limit as the front tyre was starting to drop away and I carried a bit too much corner speed so I rolled off the side of the tyre,” he explained. “I am very disappointed but more for the team than myself because they have put in a lot of effort and it would have been nice to celebrate with a strong result at our home GP.”

As usual, Moto3 served up the tastiest ‘aperitif’ for the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France with a riveting four-rider chase to the flag between Jerez conqueror Brad Binder, Romano Fenati and Estrella Galicia 0,0 duo Jorge Navarro and rookie Aron Canet. The quartet was barely separated by a second for much of the race distance and it was Binder’s experience and blossoming confidence that prevailed on the last lap. Navarro picked up his third podium in four races with third place and Canet’s fourth – just 1.3 seconds from Binder – marked a career-best in just five Grands Prix for the young Valenciano. Moto2 belonged to Paginas Amarillas HP 40’s Alex Rins for his second win in the last three Grands Prix as Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS’s Franco Morbidelli notched his second fourth-placed finish on the bounce and Federal Oil Gresini’s Sam Lowes was a solid sixth but surrendered lead of the category to his Spanish rival by a mere five points.

MotoGP dips into the cauldron of Mugello, Italy for round six in two weeks time. The stage will be set for Rossi to hunt his first top step of the box since 2008 at a venue that usually brings out the home fans and some passionate ‘yellow fever’ for the former multi champion champion…but….yet….where Lorenzo has placed the ‘Lorenzo Land’ flag four times in last half a decade. MotoGP gets ready to rumble on.

Credit Monster