MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 5 / MAY 9, 2016
LE MANS / LE MANS, FRANCE
P60
fifth ahead of his Ecstar Suzuki-
mounted older brother Aleix.
Rossi was seventh, but up to
fifth by lap three, setting the fast-
est lap next time around, almost
half a second down on his own
record from last year.
Lorenzo's lead had stretched
to one second by the time Ian-
none had pushed his way into
second ahead of Dovi, with Mar-
quez struggling to stay in touch.
To nobody's surprise, Ian-
none lasted just one more lap
before an ambitious lunge to try
and close on Lorenzo sent him
skittering into the dirt. His guilt
was assuaged, however, when
others proved how easy it was to
get caught out.
weather, although overcast by
race day, and in front of a record
crowd (at least for this cen-
tury) of 99,000. They got their
money's worth with a typically
thrilling Moto3 race—and a sec-
ond win for South African Brad
Binder—but were disappointed
when home hero Johann Zarco
crashed out of the Moto2 race,
won by Alex Rins.
MotoGP was also ultimately
something of a procession, but
only after plenty of drama and
some very fierce opening laps.
Lorenzo took a perfect start,
pursued by Andrea Dovizioso's
Ducati, with teammate Andrea
Iannone and Marquez, with Pol
Espargaro (Monster Yamaha)
points, it's good. Now the cham-
pionship is wide open again."
Equally happy was Maver-
ick Vinales who had a fast but
ultimately steady ride to gain his
first podium finish, and the first
for Suzuki since Loris Capirossi
in Brno in 2008.
The crashes had a common
theme: Michelin front tires that
let go without any warning. The
French company had responded
to the rear tire straight-line
wheelspin at Jerez with a new-
construction rear, chosen by
everybody. Now the focus must
be on finding a more user-friend-
ly front.
The race was run at the end
of a French long weekend of dry
Valentino Rossi
fought back after
a shockingly bad
qualifying run and
poor race start to
take an important
second place.
