Zarco turns rain into rapture, Kelso speaks about last corner incident

Fairytales do come true. After 16 years of trying, Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) finally has a home triumph to his name, after reading the typically changeable French conditions to perfection before holding his nerve in front of an adoring public.

True to recent form, Zarco seized his chance to make history with both hands. The 34-year-old was undeterred that the damp Bugatti track was drying before the rerun race. Knowing that rain was still forecast to return after a delayed race start, he chose wets then persevered in the early laps when it appeared the slicks – which 14 of the grid had changed to prior to the warm-up lap – were the better option.

The 34-year-old had a huge slice of luck along the way. He chose to not engage his start device, knowing the difficulty of releasing it when braking for Turn 3. And he narrowly avoided chaos at that exact spot as Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) and Joan Mir (Honda Castrol) crashed into him. On lap six he was nowhere, 30s off the victor.

Yet the weather soon turned. And his decision to persevere on wets was quickly deemed a stroke of genius. Once the rest had pitted to switch to wets, Zarco had 19 laps to defend a considerable lead. Yet not even Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati) could reel him in, the Frenchman repeatedly lapping close to a second faster than anyone while the rain intensified. No one was beating him here.

The emotion was overwhelming come the chequered flag. Zarco’s parents Yvon and Françoise, who had never attended a GP together, burst into tears. The 34-year-old’s backflip in front of the packed grandstand on the start-finish straight featured in newspapers around the world. And the 120,403 in attendance joined in with the triumphant rendition of “La Marseillaise” on the podium.

It was fitting that Le Mans was the scene for such history, too. Zarco’s unlikely triumph was the first for a French rider in a premier class race at home since Pierre Monneret in 1954. It was France’s 100th GP overall. And it put an end to Ducati’s 22-race winning sequence dating all the way back to last April. Had a red bike won here, they’d have broken Honda’s record for consecutive MotoGPs since from 1997-’98.

None of this was lost on the double Moto2 World Champion. “I’m very proud because I love motorcycle history,” he said. “I know big names and I’ve been watching old races because always a lot of interest for it. Today to write this line being a French rider, winning the French GP, it’s just magic.”

The hope of home success was ever present. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) took a second straight pole on Saturday, the first time he’d achieved such a feat since the May and June of 2021, before being denied a podium visit by Marquez and the Gresini Ducatis of Alex Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer in the Sprint.

And he was confident of another podium challenge. That was until the weather changed. After bursts of rain peppered the track, the initial start was cancelled, and the field started their sighting laps on wets. Yet all bar Zarco, Bagnaia, Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha), Luca Marini and Takaaki Nakagami (Honda Castrol) and Marco Bezzecchi and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) saw a largely dry track and pitted to change to slicks.

Under revised rules those 14 were handed Double Long Laps, ensuring the early laps were total chaos, as those darted in and out of the penalty lane. There was further drama soon after the lights went out as Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) tagged Bagnaia at Turn 3, taking the Italian and Mir down, while pushing Zarco off track and back to 17th.

Up front, and Quartararo and Alex Marquez took turns at leading. There was early French heartbreak, as the Yamaha man and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) crashed at Turn 14 on lap four when haranguing Marc Marquez up front. As the rain picked up, Miller followed them into the same gravel trap not long after he had risen into the top ten.

By lap seven the Marquez brothers pitted as it became clear only wets would do. And once Aldeguer followed them in a lap later, suddenly Zarco was clear. And such was the chaos that preceded it, the fans around the track took a full half lap to realise their man was out front, with the main grandstand going apoplectic as he exited Turn 7. Marc and Alex soon demoted Oliveira to fourth, with Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) behind.

Zarco was far from home and dry; 19 laps lay ahead – ample time for a mistake to come. Yet by lap 11, Marc Marquez had understood that pushing would be futile. “On this kind of day you need to minimise the damage,” he said before admitting, “If I came here after a victory from Jerez, I’m 80 per cent sure that I would have crashed today because I know myself.”

His run to second was made all the easier when his brother dropped it at Turn 3 with five laps remaining. He remounted then crashed at Turn 11 on the following lap, guaranteeing a first non-score of the year. By then Oliveira had high-sided out of the action at Turn 14, leaving Acosta in third. Yet Aldeguer’s pace was significantly faster late on and he breezed by his fellow Murcian on the exit of Turn 6 the penultimate time around.

Viñales was a tidy fifth, ahead of wildcard Nakagami. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia), Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) and Savadori were more than a minute off the winner. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) ensured two Japanese riders finished inside a MotoGP top ten for the first time since Phillip Island, 2006.

Marc Marquez (171 points) retakes the championship lead with Alex (149) now 22 behind. Bagnaia’s already losing touch, 51 in arrears (120).

 

Hold your head in your hands moment

Luca Marini. Marco Bezzecchi. Alex Rins. All three made the right tyre call, starting on wets. But all three pitted for slicks early on, feeling the track was too dry. How wrong they were.

Loser of the weekend

Pecco Bagnaia. A horrible weekend. He crashed out of the Sprint and was taken out of the feature race, which forced him to pit again. All in a weekend when he seemed resigned that a title challenge was beyond him. Disaster.

Perseverance Award

Enea Bastianini described the French Grand Prix as a “crazy race” after serving four long lap penalties, crashing twice, swapping bikes, and earning an additional penalty for the next round. He eventually crossed the line in 13th, scoring a hard-earned 3 points.

Rules changed

There were significant amendments to the MotoGP rules before Le Mans. For a start, factories have been forbidden from testing their new 850cc prototypes for the ‘27 technical shake up before next year.

After Marc Marquez’s dramatics in Austin, the start line procedure was also altered. If a rider leaves the grid to change tyres less than three minutes before the warm-up lap starts, they will serve a double long lap penalty, rather than a ride through.

And riders will be allowed to test a MotoGP machine for one day on a designated test track if “they have missed three or more consecutive events” or “they have missed 45 consecutive days during a MotoGP season”. This can be called the Jorge Martin Rule, to allow him to check his fitness at a test before confirming his participation in a Grand Prix.

The Aussies

Jack Miller (Sprint: P11, Race: DNF) –  “Devoed” was Jack’s assessment of this one that got away. The 30-year-old had a strong weekend, qualifying eighth and recovering to 11th in the Sprint despite being punted off track by Bastianini. Then on Sunday he made the right tyre call. “I trusted the forecast. I was thinking, ‘If the rain doesn’t come on this lap, we’re completely f**ked. It came. I could see where the leading group was and could tell when they were coming back toward me. When the crossover was about to happen was when I went down. Devoed. When you have a highside and you don’t know what’s gone on, it hurts more than when you lose the front and don’t know what’s happened.”

Senna Agius (P14) –  After the highs of Jerez, Senna was brought back down to earth in France. Qualifying 14th was by no means a disaster. And after an iffy start, the 19-year-old was soon up to 13th. But he was handed a Long Lap for cutting across the chicane at Turn 9. Once completed, he found himself back in 19th. “Unfortunately, this was not an easy weekend,” he said. “I’m pretty annoyed about how the race went for us. But I tried not to give up. I made a mistake. I didn’t give the rider who overtook me enough time to get past again. That’s why I had to take a short cut and got a penalty. After that, I just tried to score as many points as possible.”

Joel Kelso (P2) –  Joel stretched his qualifying streak of front row starts to four on Saturday by qualifying third. And he came agonisingly close to a debut win. But he was adamant the first victory isn’t far away. “I didn’t even know there was a bike on my inside until I got punted off track. It’s Moto3. It’s the last corner. We did a really good weekend. We did a great pace. I have to be positive because I almost led every lap. If you’re doing that, it shows you have good confidence and a good feeling. These things can happen. It happened to Rueda in Argentina and he bounced back with two race wins. Happy to be here. If we keep on like this, the first victory will come very soon.”

Jacob Roulstone (P13) – Jacob’s weekend wasn’t helped when he crashed at the close of Q1, which led to him qualifying back in 18th. Then came frustration in the opening lap, when he was shuffled back to 20th by some aggressive riding up ahead. But he recovered well while showing rhythm similar to that of the riders fighting for fifth. “Mixed feelings about this race,” he said. “We are happy to earn some points as we worked back some positions from 18th on the grid. Still, we struggled in the opening laps, I was not positioning myself well enough, so I am a bit frustrated. Anyway, it is a race for learning today, and I’m happy we had a test the day after the race, which was really useful.”