Finishing Order: Le Mans MotoGP, Moto2, 125

MotoGP Results

Jorge Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the FIM MotoGP World Championship stretched to nine points after the Spaniard won the third round at Le Mans, his second victory of the season, triumphing in the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France ahead of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.

Lorenzo’s success also made it three Yamaha wins in the opening three races of the season for the first time since 1980.

A superb start from Rossi from his pole position saw the Italian lead into the first turn ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo, but the latter quickly moved into second and set his sights on his Fiat Yamaha team-mate.

The early race order saw Ducati Marlboro pair Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner and Dovizioso inside the top five, whilst San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri shot up from 11th on the grid to sixth.

A decisive moment in the race came on only the second lap when Stoner slid out at turn six, and the Australian was unable to remount his Desmosedici GP10 machine as he experienced the second non-finish of his stuttering season.

Shortly afterwards, the race of Ben Spies was ended prematurely with a fall, and Loris Capirossi was forced to retire too after damaging his bike when he went down.

The fight for the win started on lap seven when Lorenzo took the lead from Rossi, only to see the Italian immediately reclaim it. Undeterred, Lorenzo pushed again on lap ten, this time making his move stick as he moved into first and began to open up an advantage.

As the Yamaha duo occupied the top two spots, the battle for third was also extremely engrossing, and involved another pair of team-mates. Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa and Dovizioso were tight in third and fourth, with Hayden refusing to lose touch in fifth as well.

Lorenzo’s lead over Rossi at the front had stretched to over four seconds with four laps to go, and Pedrosa and Dovizioso were by now locked in a marvellous duel for the final podium spot.

Marco Simoncelli, Colin Edwards and Héctor Barberá were involved in another tricky encounter for eighth position, as was Hiroshi Aoyama until a moment on his bike saw him lose valuable seconds.

A thrilling last lap played out as Dovizioso forced his way through on Pedrosa to take third, and Hayden also squeezed past the Spaniard after he ran wide.

Lorenzo crossed the line to take victory by a gap of 5.672s from Rossi, with Dovizioso taking his second podium of the season in third place.

Hayden finished fourth for the third consecutive race, with Pedrosa ending the race in fifth. Melandri was sixth as a pre-race switch of suspension paid off for him, with Randy de Puniet taking seventh in his home GP.

The top ten was completed by Barberá, Aleix Espargaró and Simoncelli. Aoyama took 11th place, and was followed by Edwards and Mika Kallio.

Le Mans, Sunday, May 23, 2010

Moto2

Toni Elías opened up an 18-point lead at the top of the Moto2 World Championship standings with his second win of the season. The Spanish rider led a podium completed by Julián Simón and Simone Corsi, in a race that was extremely eventful in its opening stages.

Elías made a rapid start from seventh on the grid and took the early lead, but Alex Debón was soon in front. However, the Valencian rider was penalised for a jump-start and had to take a ride through penalty as he lost first position.

Yuki Takahashi crashed out from fourth, and pole position man Kenny Noyes suffered the same disappointment.

At the head of the race Elías, Jules Cluzel and Simón established a break, but disaster struck from the Frenchman Cluzel when he lost the front of his bike.

Championship leader at the start of the race, Shoya Tomizawa ran off twice, first as the result of De Rosa’s crash which forced him wide, then of his own accord, bringing down Mattia Pasini too.

As Elías stretched out his lead and Simón shored up second, Andrea Iannone and Corsi scrapped for third behind, with the latter coming out on top to claim his first Moto2 podium.

Le Mans, Sunday, May 23, 2010

125cc GP

Pol Espargaró took victory with a fantastic ride in the 125cc race, edging out Nico Terol for the victory and narrowing his rival’s lead at the top of the World Championship standings to two points.

Terol led into the first turn after a storming start from his pole position, and Espargaró stuck on the Bancaja Aspar rider’s back wheel as the duo pulled away after the early stages of the race.

Espargaró eventually made his decisive move to secure the win on the last lap as he crossed the line ahead of Terol.

A marvellous battle for third occurred behind, with Bradley Smith, Marc Márquez, Efrén Vázquez , and Sandro Cortese all engaged in a thrilling encounter.

After Smith had been in the podium slot for most of the race, Márquez sneaked past him on the final lap, and despite the Briton’s attempts to claim the spot, in touching fairings with Marquez, Vázquez squeezed through his off-line bike for fourth.

Smith finished fifth, with Cortese completing the top six.

Le Mans, Sunday, May 23, 2010