CHAPEAU: Zarco emerges victorious in history-making French GP
Words and images courtesy of MotoGP
For the first time since 1954, a French MotoGP rider wins on home turf in an unbelievably dramatic Grand Prix at Le Mans
Flippin’ phenomenal. A day Johann Zarco, LCR Honda Castrol and a record-breaking Michelin Grand Prix of France crowd will never forget. For the first time since 1954, 71 years ago, a French MotoGP rider wins on home turf after a wet tyre gamble from Zarco sees the #5 beat second place Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) by nearly 20 seconds.
The #93 gains important points in the title chase as both Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) fail to score points on a hugely dramatic Sunday afternoon, which saw Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) claim a debut MotoGP rostrum.
A RED-FLAGGED START AS RAIN FALLS
Tensions were at an all-time high in the lead up to lights out as light rain scattered the Le Mans circuit in the build up. Heading onto the warm up lap, with everyone on Michelin’s slick tyres, it was then abundantly clear that was the wrong tyre to be on. Polesitte
Quartararo was nearly down at Turn 3 and at the end of the warm up lap, unsurprisingly, every rider peeled into pit lane and that brought out the red flags due to an excessive number of riders at pit lane exit as we then set ourselves for a quick restart procedure at the French GP.
The Grand Prix was also reduced by one lap to 26, with a wet race declared – that meant riders could come in and change their bikes at any moment once we got underway.
And there was more drama at the end of the sighting lap. More than half the grid, including Quartararo, Alex Marquez and Marc Marquez, were in while Bagnaia stayed on the grid.
LIGHTS OUT AND IMMEDIATE DRAMA
Eventually we were lights out and underway and as he was in the Sprint, Bagnaia was down at Turn 3 on Lap 1! Meanwhile, Quartararo led from Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez, Aldeguer was fourth as Bagnaia made it back to pit lane to jump onto his dry weather bike. The Italian was miles behind but having pitted at the end of the sighting lap, over half the grid had double Long Lap penalties to take.
Quartararo, having led by over a second, was the first of the front runners to dive into the Long Lap loop. Alex Marquez, Aldeguer – who had passed Marc Marquez – and Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) were the next to come in, but Marc Marquez didn’t. This happened after Bagnaia had been lapped – a disaster for Pecco, who then came in for dry tyres. A decision that would prove costly again soon after.
HOME HEARTBREAK TO ELATION: QUARTARARO CRASHES, ZARCO LEADS
Then, heartbreak. Quartararo was down at the final corner and so was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) right behind the Frenchman. Gutting for the 100,000+ crowd, but back on circuit, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Viñales were back in the pit lane to switch back onto wet tyres.
Where to look? Marc and Alex were next to come in and that left Aldeguer leading the Grand Prix by over 12 seconds, but now, the rookie was clearly on the wrong tyre – and sure enough, the #54 came in on the next lap.
Right, where were we? Well, to the delight of the French faithful, Zarco led the French Grand Prix! The #5 had stuck it out on the wet weather tyres and he was leading by seven seconds over Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), the Portuguese rider had done the same as Zarco, with Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez pressing Oliveira on Lap 9 of 26.
HOW THE FRENCH GP WAS WON
The brothers passed a struggling Oliveira with ease and with 17 laps to go, the gap between leader Zarco and the Marquez duo was 8.5s. That grew to nine seconds with 15 laps to go, then it was 9.3s as Zarco churned out low 1:46s, with Marquez near enough matching the home hero. Alex Marquez was losing touch on the #93, but the #73 had a six second buffer to fourth place Acosta.
With 11 laps to go, Zarco was marching towards an astonishing home Grand Prix victory. The gap had risen to 11.5s, then it was 12.4s as Zarco lapped at least a second quicker than anyone else on track. That trend continued as the advantage rose to over 14 seconds with seven laps as we witnessed two crashes – first Oliveria was down at the final corner, then Alex Marquez crashed at Turn 3. Luckily the former Championship leader remounted, and such were the gaps between a lot of riders, the Spanish GP winner re-joined the Grand Prix in P6. That off promoted Acosta to P3.
Having got back into the race, Alex Marquez was in the gravel again and unfortunately that was his French GP done. But Gresini’s podium hopes weren’t over because Aldeguer was catching Acosta at a rapid rate of knots. With two laps left, the rookie was right on the back of Acosta and at the front, Zarco’s lead was 19 seconds. The Frenchman simply had to nurse his Honda to the chequered flag.
Aldeguer did get Acosta but it was all eyes on the #5. One lap left Johann! And he brought it home. The roof was raised at Le Mans because for the first time since 1954, a French MotoGP rider clinched victory on home turf. Unbelievable. What a moment for Zarco, LCR Honda and the record-breaking French GP crowd.
Marc Marquez crossed the line 19.9s away from Zarco to collect a massive 20 points, with Aldeguer backing up his Saturday bronze medal with a debut MotoGP podium. What a weekend for the rookie.
YOUR FRENCH GP POINTS SCORERS
Acosta had to settle for P4 after he couldn’t live with Aldeguer’s late race pace, as Viñales handed KTM a double top five in France. Honda HRC Test Team’s Takaaki Nakagami took a magnificent P6 in his first wildcard ride for the Japanese factory, as Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) picked up his season best Sunday result in P7.
Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) rounded out the top 10, with Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) closed out the points, with Bagnaia acting as the final finisher in P16.
Just… wow. Johann Zarco is a winner at home in MotoGP. A Sunday that will go down in history for more reasons than one. Le Mans, you were simply incredible. Again.
Silverstone, you’re up.
For full results, click HERE!
ALL-TIME RECORD: more than 300,000 fans make history at Le Mans!
When we said they raise the roof in Le Mans, we weren’t joking. The raucous noise throughout the weekend at the Michelin Grand Prix of France teased an incredible attendance figure and it is a new all-time record.
311,797 fans have come to the iconic track during the event, making it the first time MotoGP has welcomed more than 300,000 fans to a Grand Prix. All that’s left to say is: MERCI !
Postcards from the Le Mans podium
Rider of the Race: could it be anyone but Zarco?
Rider of the Race is new for 2025 and after its debut at Jerez, where Fabio Quartararo took the honour, it went the way of history-making race winner Johann Zarco at Le Mans. Find out more about Rider of the Race HERE!
Talking points: Michelin Grand Prix of France
- Crucial points gained for Marc in the title chase
- Aldeguer becomes a Sunday podium finisher
Gonzalez fends off Baltus for back-to-back victories
Earning back-to-back wins in Jerez and Le Mans? That’s exactly what Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) has done in the last two rounds as the #18 beats second place Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego) at the Michelin Grand Prix of France. It was a dominant weekend for the Spaniard who extends his title chase lead over third place finisher Aron Canet (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego) ahead of a trip to Silverstone.
Heading into the Dunlop chicane on the opening lap, Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) shoved his Triumph powered Kalex machine up the inside of polesitter Gonzalez to grab an early lead, while both ELF Marc VDS Racing Team riders, Jake Dixon and Filip Salač, made great starts to climb up to P3 and P4 respectively. Baltus had dropped to P5 from the front row, with his teammate Canet shuffled back to P10 from the second row.
On Lap 4, Gonzalez hit the front for the first time at Turn 9 as Baltus carved his way brilliantly to P3 to latch onto the back of Moreira. The Belgian was then through on the Brazilian at the start of Lap 8 and set his sights on race leader Gonzalez, as Canet continued his comeback – the #44 was P4 on Lap 12 after a slick move at Turn 3 on Dixon.
A big moment coming out of Turn 4 followed though for Canet while battling Moreira. The Spaniard was pinged out of the seat but managed to stay on board, but it was crucial ground lost – he was back behind both Moreira and Dixon.
Heading into the final five laps, Gonzalez began to stretch his legs as Baltus fell over 0.5s behind for the first time in a while. That did drop back to 0.4s though so fair play to Baltus, he was making the pre-race favourite work hard for a potential 25-pointer. In the end though, Gonzalez had just enough in his back pocket to fend off Baltus for victory in Le Mans, with Baltus finishing 1.8s behind the win but 4.3s ahead of the brilliant fight for the final podium spot.
Canet, after that moment, did win that battle ahead of Moreira and Dixon, with Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) finishing P6, 0.6s ahead of Salač. Celestino Vietti (Folladore SpeedRS Team) claimed P8 ahead of top rookie Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – FRINSA – MSI), a top job from the Spaniard, while Alonso Lopez (Folladore SpeedRS Racing) rounded out the top 10. After a Long Lap penalty, David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) crossed the line in 11th ahead of Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team), Sergio Garcia (QJMOTOR – FRINSA – MSI), Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and the final point scorer, Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing Team).
For full results, click HERE! And join us for more in Silverstone next time out.
Rueda sweeps through to win as Muñoz vs Kelso brings late drama at Le Mans
Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) has brought the victory backflip back to Le Mans! The #99 spent his Michelin Grand Prix of France moving through the front group to be sitting third on the final lap as drama hit in the duel up ahead. An aggressive attack from David Muñoz (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) on then-leader Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) saw the two make contact and head wide – leaving Rueda to sweep through for the spoils.
Muñoz was penalized for the incident and demoted to third too, putting Kelso into second on the podium. For Rueda, it was already a chance to gain big in the standings too as key rival Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) crashed out mid-race.
Off the line it was rookie polesitter Max Quiles (CFMoto Gaviota Aspar Team) vs Kelso for the lead, and the rookie held on for much of Lap 1 until Kelso took over in the final sector. From there, the Australian got his head down and did much of the leg work in the lead, with the Moto3™ concertina classic in full song.
Kelso, Muñoz, rookie Guido Pini (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and Rueda is what it had boiled down to after the crash for Piqueras out the chasing pack, and then there was a sudden slide out for rookie Pini. That left a trio at the front with another rookie, Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo), on the chase – but the #83 couldn’t quite make up the gap as the laps ticked down.
Barring a couple of small mistakes, Kelso kept it near perfect at the front to hold on until the last lap, and there was no open door for Muñoz on the chase. But the #64 was determined to make one and went full send at the final corner complex – making contact with the Australian and both heading wide, leaving Rueda with a clear run round the final corner to the finish line.
Muñoz crossed the line second but was demoted to third for the move, putting Kelso into P2. Carpe took fourth just behind the podium-deciding shenanigans. The top five was completed by David Almansa (Leopard Racing) heading the second group, ahead of Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), Quiles as he faded slightly from the podium fight, Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing), Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3), the Argentine rookie completing the top ten for home team Tech3.
Dennis Foggia (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) and Scott Ogden (CIP Green Power) were just off that group, with Jacob Roulstone (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Cormac Buchanan (DENSSI Racing – BOE) and Nicola Carraro (Rivacold Snipers Team) completing the points. Pini rejoined and took P17, without points but with some good prestige after his impressive qualifying and race performance in France.
Check out full results here! From Sarthe it’s over the channel to Silverstone now, with Rueda back in charge at the top of the standings and Piqueras the first of those who want to hit back. Join us for more in two weeks at the legendary Silverstone Circuit!
