MotoGP Le Mans – Marc Marquez makes it three in a row!

Bruno Gomes

May 22, 2018

Marc Marquez won for third time this season, and equaled Casey Stoner’s record with 38 wins in MotoGP

Sunny weather and great atmosphere for what was a great race day at Le Mans, where this weekend the MotoGP season had its fifth round. Marc Marquez always seems to struggle at the French track, but this season he arrived at Le Mans in great form, and the champion made sure he showed that to everyone during the 27 laps race.

During the race Marquez saw some of its more direct rivals crash out of contention: home hero Johann Zarco, Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso.

With all the crashes at the front, it was Jorge Lorenzo who tried to escape for the win, but Marc Marquez never lost the Ducati rider from its sight and in a fantastic move he passed Lorenzo to take the lead.

From then on, Lorenzo would lose even more places and eventually he crossed the line in sixth.

Hafizh Syahrin was the top rookie in Le Mans, and gets another boost in confidence

With Marc Marquez safe in the lead and gaining precious tenths of a second for the pursuers, it was Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati) who tried to get back in contention, but the Italian who is widely regarded as the substitute for Jorge Lorenzo at the factory Ducati team, had to worry about Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha).

Rossi showed he had the speed to chase down Petrucci in second place, but it was only for a few laps before the two got settled in their 2nd and 3rd positions. First podium of 2018 for Danilo Petrucci and also a good performance from Valentino Rossi after a couple of difficult races for him.

Until the end there was no more changes on the top three.

With the victory at Le Mans, Marc Marquez not only wins for the third time in a row this season, but also equals Casey Stoner in number of victories in MotoGP: 38.

As for Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech3), the Malaysian rider had an excellent race!

Syahrin started from 14th position on the grid, and fought with more experienced riders throughout the race. He lost some places at the early stages of the Le Mans race, but in the end he made one final push and crossed the line in 12th, again being the best MotoGP rookie.

Marc Marquez extends his championship lead to 36 points over Maverick Viñales – who had another bad race, but got to the end with some points – and Johann Zarco is still in third at championship standings just one point behind Viñales, but now has Valentino Rossi just two points behind.

Bagnaia has won three times this season and is the leader of the Moto2 standings

In Moto2, championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (SKY VR46 team) got his third win in 2018 and extended even further his dominance in the 600 cc class. But Bagnaia hadn’t his wirk cut out for him, because Estrella Galicia Marc VDS teammates Alex Marquez and Joan Mir, followed close and finished the race in a 1-2 formation.

It was the maiden podium for Joan Mir in Moto2.

Championship standings now show Francesco Bagnaia with 98 points, Portuguese Red Bull KTM rider Miguel Oliveira salvaged some precious points finishing sixth and is now second in the standings with 73 points, and third position in the standings is for Alex Marquez with 67 points.

Albert Arenas has won a Moto3 race for the first time at world level

In Moto3 it was the turn for Spanish rookie Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Moto3 team) who got his first race win in the World Championship. Teammate Andrea Migno claimed second to make it a perfect day for the Angel Nieto Team, with Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai) standing on the third step of the podium for the second race in a row.

Marco Bezzecchi (KTM) is still the championship leader with 63 points, Fabio di Giannantonio (Honda) is second with 59, and third is Aaron Canet (Honda) with 56 points.

Next round is in Italy, with the sixth round of the season at the famous Mugello racetrack.