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MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5 / MAY 18-20, 2018 BUGATTI CIRCUIT / LE MANS, FRANCE P84 suit had been Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), after he'd got ahead of Alex Rins' Ecstar Suzuki. Franco Morbidelli (EG-VDS Honda) had followed him by, but after one- third distance Rins got back ahead, and by then Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) had picked up speed and positions after dropping to 13th on lap four. By lap 20 he was past Rins, and took one more to pass the Aprilia. By now it was a lively fight, with Rins to and fro with Espar- garo, and Cal Crutchlow (LCR made the right tire choice. It's a good result for Yamaha and the team," he said. Pedrosa had been shadow- ing Lorenzo, looking rather ineffectual, given that he is still nursing shoulder injuries from his Jerez crash. He finally got by with seven laps to go, and in turn closed to within a second of Miller. Lorenzo was another three seconds down. The rest of them were miles behind; the gap almost 15 sec- onds at the flag. The early leader of the pur- Honda) were behind. Rossi passed Lorenzo just before half distance; Miller did the same one lap later. The Australian was less than a sec- ond behind, and while the gap stretched to more than two sec- onds, the Ducati was closing up again at the end, finishing less than one second down. "That's the first time I've ever wished a race would be a bit longer," laughed Miller later, fourth by far his best dry-weather finish. Rossi was equally pleased. "We've improved a bit, and I iii My Own Race: 93 MARC MARQUEZ 1ST MOTOGP "I'm currently experiencing a very 'sweet' period with my bike, and when you've got that kind of feeling, you also work better; then you ride better, and the bike works better," Mar- quez said. "Things don't exactly become easier when you get into this zone, but they're more natural. Of course, it's a very long season, and not all the races will be the same, so we'll just try and keep the momentum." 99 JORGE LORENZO 6TH MOTOGP "Once again I got a great start, which allowed me to stay in the lead for nine laps, but un- fortunately I was unable to keep the pace for all the distance," Lorenzo said. "We still have a small problem making the bike more user-friendly, which makes it very tiring for me, and I'm unable to be consistent for many laps. Luckily in two days' time we will be at Montmeló for a one-day test and we'll try and find a solution." 35 CAL CRUTCHLOW 8TH MOTOGP "I had some internal injury to my lung and we thought the pelvis area maybe broken because of the impact," Crutchlow said of his monster qualifying crash. "That was the concern, because I had a lot of pain in the bottom of my stomach. "They (hospital staff) were panicking because I obviously wanted to go and race. I left the hospital about 8:30 am this morning and was able to get here in time for warm up. It wasn't the best night's sleep I've ever had that's for sure." 21 FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO 4TH MOTO3 "I can honestly tell myself I won this race," said the Italian after being demoted to fourth after taking the win. "The incident with Kornfeil was a strange one, because we got into the chicane at the same time and he touched me whilst trying to get past—a maneuver that forced me to cut the corner. Moreover, I got back on track in the same position I was before, so I can't even say I had any gain from this. We had a perfect weekend and an out- standing race. The team has done an amazing job, so thank you to them and my family."

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