Lorenzo title bid gathers momentum in Le Mans

Jorge Lorenzo produced a masterful ride to secure his second victory of the season in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

The former double MotoGP world champion confirmed his championship credentials with a measured lights-to-flag ride as he successfully fended off a spirited challenge from Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi.

An excellent getaway saw Lorenzo launch into the lead on the run to the first corner where he would stay for the entire race.

However, it was far from an easy victory with Lorenzo coming under prolonged pressure from the factory Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone in the early stages.

Having dealt with the Ducatis, Lorenzo faced a challenge from a hard charging Rossi, who stormed up to second by the halfway mark.

Rossi’s charge failed to unnerve Lorenzo who went on to take the flag to claim back-to-back wins following his triumph at Jerez earlier this month.

Nine-time world champion Rossi settled for second while Dovizioso secured the final spot on the podium.

Polesitter Marc Marquez was hampered by a slow start which left him adrift of the front runners.

The reigning world champion was unable to match the pace at the front and found himself embroiled in a titanic scrap for fourth in the closing stages with Iannone and Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith.

Marquez eventually took fourth position with Iannone coming home in fifth just ahead of Smith.

Pol Espargaro finished in seventh ahead of Yonny Hernandez, Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales and Danilo Petrucci, who completed the top 10.

It proved to be a difficult day for LCR Honda with Cal Crutchlow and Jack Miller crashing out of the grand prix.

Crutchlow dropped his Honda from seventh spot on lap eight, while Miller had been an enjoying an impressive run in 12th position before he fell at Turn 4 with 14 laps remaining.

Honda’s Dani Pedrosa recovered from a fall early on to finish in 16th position on his return to the premier class.

Rossi leads the world championship standings with a 15 point margin over Lorenzo heading into the Italian Grand Prix on May 31.

 Result: MotoGP French Grand Prix, Le Mans 

Position	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	28
2	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	28	+3.820s
3	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	28	+12.380s
4	Marc Márquez	Honda	28	+19.890s
5	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	28	+20.237s
6	Bradley Smith	Tech 3 Yamaha	28	+21.145s
7	Pol Espargaró	Tech 3 Yamaha	28	+35.493s
8	Yonny Hernández	Pramac Ducati	28	+39.601s
9	Maverick Viñales	Suzuki	28	+41.571s
10	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	28	+42.789s
11	Nicky Hayden	Aspar Honda	28	+53.636s
12	Loris Baz	Forward Yamaha	28	+1:00.617s
13	Héctor Barberá	Avintia Ducati	28	+1:04.272s
14	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Honda	28	+1:05.259s
15	Álvaro Bautista	Gresini Aprilia	28	+1:05.515s
16	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	28	+1:20.907s
17	Alex de Angelis	ART/Aprilia	28	+1:21.663s
18	Marco Melandri	Gresini Aprilia	27	+1 Lap
DNF	Jack Miller	LCR Honda	14	Crash
DNF	Karel Abraham	AB Honda	14	Crash
DNF	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	7	Crash
DNF	Scott Redding	Marc VDS Honda	3	Crash
DNF	Mike Di Meglio	Avintia Ducati	3	Crash
DNF	Aleix Espargaró	Suzuki	2	Mechanical
DNF	Stefan Bradl	Yamaha Forward	1	Crash

Championship Standings

Position	Driver	Points
1	Valentino Rossi	102
2	Jorge Lorenzo	87
3	Andrea Dovizioso	83
4	Marc Márquez	69
5	Andrea Iannone	61
6	Cal Crutchlow	47
7	Bradley Smith	46
8	Pol Espargaró	35
9	Aleix Espargaró	31
10	Maverick Viñales	27
11	Danilo Petrucci	25
12	Yonny Hernández	20
13	Scott Redding	13
14	Héctor Barberá	13
15	Daniel Pedrosa	10
16	Nicky Hayden	8
17	Loris Baz	6
18	Jack Miller	6
19	Hiroshi Aoyama	5
20	Álvaro Bautista	3
21	Eugene Laverty	2
22	Stefan Bradl	1