The Le Mans Bugatti Circuit has been permanent host to the French Grand Prix since 2000, as well as on frequent occasions before that. It had hosted the race four times in the 1990s, with current rider Loris Capirossi having been a GP winner there as long ago as 1994. Rossi is a three-time former Le Mans winner, with Lorenzo having done so twice. Dani Pedrosa also has three successes on his CV, with one each for Andrea Dovizioso, Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli.

Practice at Le Mans was hit by a number of accidents, and for Rizla Suzuki rider Álvaro Bautista his crash meant that he had to miss the rest of the meeting. The 25-year-old had only recently had to have an operation for a shoulder injury from a prior motocross incident, and this tumble exacerbated the problem. Also hurt in practice were Ben Spies, the Tech 3 Yamaha rider bruising his left foot; and Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati), who felt sufficiently second-hand that he could only then qualify last.

Rossi was still battling back from his own shoulder injury, but in qualifying it held up well enough as he ended up fastest. This was his 59th Grand Prix pole position, achieved by a small margin over second man Lorenzo on the second works Yamaha. Repsol Honda team leader Pedrosa, second in the race in Spain, was also on the front row of the grid in third position. The Spaniard would be making his 150th GP start in the race, with only four men in the field more experienced.

Marlboro Ducati team leader Casey Stoner had been on the front row in Qatar and Spain, although with only a single fifth place finish to show for it. Here he was last of the ‘big four’, leading the second row, with team-mate Nicky Hayden starting fifth as he had done for round two. Randy de Puniet kept up a good record with sixth for LCR Honda, and would be hoping for a good result in his home race. Dovizioso was seventh on the second Repsol RCV.

The Tech 3 Yamaha riders were in eighth and twelfth, Colin Edwards ahead of Spies, who was a first time visitor to the venue. Capirossi was ninth for Rizla Suzuki, with tenth a best yet for Pramac rider Aleix Espargaró. Melandri took P11 for Gresini Honda, and team-mate Simoncelli had improved to P13. Then it was Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda), Héctor Barberá (Aspar Ducati) and Kallio.

Rossi and Lorenzo made improved starts to the race, so that the usual fast getaway of Pedrosa took him only into second, between the pair of Yamahas, Valentino ahead. Hayden got into fourth, from Stoner, then Melandri, Dovizioso, de Puniet and Edwards. The circuit has a few fast blasts, plus several hairpin bends and chicanes. The final double right is the Virage de Raccordement, which is where Simoncelli took over tenth place from Capirossi.

Virage du Garage Vert is another double right-hander, leading onto the back straight. Lorenzo took second place away from Pedrosa on the inside going into that straight, so that Yamaha held the first two places again. As mentioned, the current ‘big four’ in MotoGP are Rossi, Stoner, Pedrosa and Lorenzo, winners between them of most of the races of the 800cc four-stroke era. This quartet held the top four places once Stoner had passed team-mate Hayden, which he did on the inside through the long left Courbe du Musée loop.

However, that situation proved short lived. Stoner had crashed out when leading in Qatar, then struggled to fifth in Spain. Unfortunately for the Australian, he was in for more disappointment here in France. His exit came at the Virage de la Chapelle right-hand hairpin bend, just before the crest and drop down to Musée. Casey lost the Ducati when the rear wheel spun outwards and away from the apex, causing the bike to fold under. The rider later described this incident as a sudden quirk of the latest Desmosedici, which has caught him out without warning more than once. He was clearly going to drop further out of contention in the championship as a result.

Stoner’s crash was right in front of Hayden, and a moment of concern for the 28-year-old was enough to let Dovizioso through to take over fourth position. There was already a bit of a gap to the first three when Andrea went on to take the fastest lap, which was soon improved by team-mate Pedrosa. But before long the second of the Honda men had begun to pull out a bit of a margin over Hayden. This period then saw Capirossi, from eighth, and Spies, from a couple of places back, both crash out. Thirteen runners remained.

Rossi led Lorenzo and Pedrosa, but Dani was now beginning to start losing ground as the team-mates fought it out ahead of him. The first turn at Le Mans is the fast right Courbe Dunlop, which leads into the left-right Chicane Dunlop. Jorge went to the inside of Valentino through the curve, braking a touch later as the chicane approached, which put the younger man just ahead. Rossi was on the brakes on the inside for the left-hander, getting back in front, and held off his rival as Lorenzo tried again on the outside for the right-hander.

The next battle between them at the same location saw Lorenzo pass this time into the left-hander, holding off the reply at the right-hander just as Rossi had previously done. With Jorge in front, and Valentino riding with his shoulder problem, now the Spaniard was able to up his pace and begin to get clear. At half-distance there was about 0.9s between them, but thereafter the margin went up. Lorenzo improved the fastest lap time more than once, getting more than three seconds clear, then more than four, and ultimately he was as many as five seconds in front.

The Repsol Honda riders in third and fourth were getting closer to one another as Pedrosa’s pace dropped off. At the same time, fifth man Hayden also seemed to be catching up ground on Dovizioso. With five laps remaining, Andrea was right onto the tail of Dani, who seemed to be feeling the pressure as he had to start defending his place. The Spaniard ran a bit wide at Musée, but closed the door on his team-mate, removing the gap for any possible move. Nicky was in touch as this unfolded.

Despite his efforts, the last lap saw Pedrosa lose his podium place, as Dovizioso overtook on the brakes for the Dunlop chicane. A couple of corners later, Dani went very wide at Musée, and this meant Hayden was right onto him. Following the back straight and the next left-right chicane is the ‘S’ du Garage Bleu, a long right then left. Pedrosa, quite possibly with front tyre problems, was late and ran wide in the right-hander, which let Hayden through to fourth only a couple of corners from home.

So it was that Lorenzo won again, from Rossi, and extended his championship lead. Dovizioso was third, and then it was Hayden and Pedrosa. After Dovizioso had moved up a couple of places early in the race, Melandri had been quite close behind Hayden. The Italian moved further clear of next man de Puniet, but was unable to stay with the red Ducati. Marco and Randy finished in positions six and seven.

Some of the closest action had been in the race for eighth. After the exits of Capirossi and Spies, the group had been led by Edwards, from Simoncelli, Barberá, Espargaró and Aoyama, always with Kallio trailing. Marco passed Colin, a little clear as the next trio changed places. Héctor and Hiroshi passed Aleix as the Aspar team rider looked threatening and closed the gap ahead. While Barberá attacked Edwards, Aoyama took a trip down an escape road and dropped to last in the group, but still clear of Kallio.

Edwards lost out to Barberá who made a move into the Chicane Dunlop; and from there Colin was unable to hold off Espargaró, Simoncelli and Aoyama in that order, with only the troubled Kallio behind the last of the Yamaha men at the final flag. Meanwhile, Lorenzo ran towards one of the large trackside TV screens, where his celebration set-up saw him take a seat to watch, with the aid of popcorn and soft drink refreshments.

In the light of his continuing lack of full fitness, Valentino Rossi seemed relatively happy to limit the damage to second place behind his on-form team-mate. Second, first and first for Jorge Lorenzo now meant he was ahead by nine points, with Rossi having got first, third and second. Rumour had it that Dani Pedrosa was under some pressure at Honda, and that they might already be looking to try and lure Casey Stoner in an effort to replace him. A disappointing end for Pedrosa here meant that Andrea Dovizioso was now the leading Honda man in the points, with two podiums to one for the Spaniard. Perhaps even more significantly, Stoner was seriously out of touch now, and Ducati partner Nicky Hayden was the one delivering their results. Can the Australian strike back before it’s too late?

Standings after three races: Lorenzo 70; Rossi 61; Dovizioso 42; Pedrosa 40; Hayden 39; de Puniet 26; Melandri 21; Edwards and Simoncelli 16; Barberá 15.
Yamaha 75; Honda 52; Ducati 39; Suzuki 13.

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