Thoughts by Kate Adams
The Martinator was magnificent this weekend in Le Mans, pulling off the double by taking the top step of the podium in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, expanding his lead in the World Championship. While it is still very early in the year, if Jorge Martin continues this current form, he will be a hard man to beat. Prima Pramac Racing also saw Franco Morbidelli put in a strong performance. After a struggling start to the season, he picked up a P12 in the Sprint before following it up with a P9 in the Grand Prix. Hopefully, this is the start of stronger results for the Italian.
Factory Ducati saw some shenanigans in Qualifying that saw Pecco Bagnaia running to his non-flaming motorcycle with a fire extinguisher after a crash. Whether intentional or not, it ruined teammate Enea Bastianini's flying lap, putting the Beast on the backfoot coming into the races. With a pair of P4s, one can imagine that Enea would have been fighting for the top step if not for qualifying so poorly. Pecco Bagnaia did battle for that top step on Sunday. While he crashed out of the Sprint, he powered off the start line, and we saw some brilliant overtakes between the top three riders in the championship.
The third rider fighting for the win this weekend was Gresini Ducati's Marc Marquez, who overcame a poor qualifying result to battle it out at the front, pulling off some daring overtakes and aggressive moves to pick up P2 in both races. Brother and teammate Alex Marquez picked up points on Sunday with a P10 finish.
Rounding out the Ducati bikes is VR46, who saw a shocking weekend for Marco Bezzecchi. Coming away with zero points after crashing out of both races, it will be one he would like to forget. The other side of the garage saw Fabio Di Giannantonio pick up a P10 in the Grand Prix and a P7 in the Sprint, another couple of strong results for the rider.
Both Japanese manufacturers continue their struggle, with Yamaha seeing home hero Fabio Quartararo crash out of the Grand Prix after finishing just outside of the points in P10 on Saturday. Teammate Alex Rins had a similar weekend but can take comfort in the fact that he started poorly, was running last, completed a long lap penalty, and still finished in front of Honda rider Luca Marini, who remains the only rider without a point this season.
The highest-scoring Honda this weekend was Johann Zarco, who picked up a P12 in the Grand Prix. LCR teammate Takaaki Nakagami picked up a pair of points with a P14 finish, and Joan Mir continued his streak of riding that bike to the limit and crashing out, picking up no points this weekend.
Factory KTM saw Brad Binder qualify dead last after three late Q1 crashes hurt the South African's chances to move up the grid. This didn't stop the Sunday man from progressing through the field to P8 after being pointless on Saturday. The opposite weekend occurred on the other side of the garage, with Jack Miller picking up a P8 in the sprint before crashing out of the Grand Prix.
© KTM Images/Polarity Photo
A first rookie mistake came from Pedro Acosta on Sunday as the rider went overly ambitiously into a corner, losing the bike. He slid between Aleix Espargaro and Fabio Di Giannantonio, missing both riders by millimeters. Teammate Augusto Fernandez continued his season's struggles, unable to repeat last year's strong P4 finish. He picked up P13 in the Grand Prix.
Aprilia had a quiet but consistent weekend with minor mistakes and a few rough racing moves holding them back in the results. Aleix Espargaro jumped the start in the Sprint, served his double long lap penalty, and still picked up a P5. Sunday wasn't as successful for the Spaniard, who picked up a P9 after a move from Enea Bastianini saw the rider have to take the service road. Aprilia's other rider, Maverick Vinales, saw more success both days with a podium in the Sprint followed by a P5 in the Grand Prix, keeping him on the edges of the title fight this season.
Trackhouse Racing saw Raul Fernandez looking strong with a P11 in the main race being their best Sunday result after Miguel Oliveira had to retire due to technical issues. Saturday had also seen Miguel out of the points with a P11 while Raul collected a single point with a P9.
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