MOTOGP
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 5 / MAY 9, 2016
LE MANS / LE MANS, FRANCE
P62
corner, another to complain of
no warning from the front.
By lap 17 Pedrosa had also
passed the second Suzuki,
and would finish a disappoint-
edly distant fourth, nonetheless
top Honda at a track where the
troublesome new reverse-crank
RC213V was at its worst.
Six seconds behind, Yamaha-
mounted Pol had gotten back
ahead of his rapidly fading Suzuki-
mounted brother Aleix for fifth, but
there was a big gap behind, so
sixth was safe for the Suzuki.
Still five seconds away at the
finish, Danilo Petrucci (Octo
Pramac Ducati) claimed an
impressive seventh by two-tenths
after a race-long battle with Hec-
tor Barbera (Avintia Ducati). It was
Petrucci's first race of the sea-
son, after suffering serious right
up far back if you do that, so
today I had to take risks. I was
losing ground under accelera-
tion, and I had to make that back
with my braking."
Rossi was now a safe second,
five seconds adrift of Jorge, later
admitting that he couldn't match
his pace even if he hadn't lost
time in the opening laps.
By now, Vinales had gotten
past his teammate, and was a
lone third, which he would sus-
tain to the finish.
Aleix had in turn gotten clear
of brother Pol, while behind him
fast-starting teammate Bradley
Smith had his hand full with a
gradually improving Pedrosa,
gaining pace and comfort as the
fuel burned off. Pedrosa was
ahead of both when Smith fell
at the same Museum (turn five)
Now Dovi was second again
and losing ground, while Mar-
quez was closing, and likewise
Rossi. He had gotten ahead of
both when they performed a
synchronized crash at the sec-
ond looping U-turn of turn five.
They were mere meters apart,
but crashed quite independent-
ly, Marquez in the rear going
down a split second before Dovi
ahead of him.
Dovi admitted, "I had two
degrees more lean angle" than
the previous lap, but had been
quite taken by surprise, with no
warning.
Marquez's explanation was
more straightforward: "These
things can happen when you're
at the limit on every lap. I could
have opted for a more conserva-
tive race, but here you can end
Danilo Petrucci rode a determined
race with a still mangled right hand.
