In wet conditions, Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) took the MotoGP win earlier today at Le Mans. Alex Marquez (Honda) rode impressively to his first podium in MotoGP with Pol Espargaro (KTM) finishing behind him in third.
Points leader Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who had shown blistering speed on a dry track this weekend, had to settle for 9th position in the wet, but he actually increased his points margin in the championship over Joan Mir (Suzuki) who finished 11th.
You can find full race results here. For additional details, visit the official MotoGP site.
I’m always appreciative of the MotoGP coverage (and most other articles) at MD, but why no MotoAmerica coverage? I would think we would want to support our domestic racing series, no?
I 100% agree with Freddy above. MD really needs to proactively push MotoAmerica coverage. This series is where the USA can cultivate Americans to run with the European domination in MotoGP. Support the American effort more……
It was a good race. Shame about Jack’s Ducati letting go. Fabio increased his lead in the championship, and fought off Mir when it counted. Alex M may not have shut the naysayers up, but it was still an excellent ride. Petrux has left me cold since he almost fell off his bike in his enthusiasm to let Rossi past in 2015, but he rode a good race. I doubt that Ducati will miss him any more than he will miss them. His comments after the race came off as ungracious to the team which gave him his big opportunity.
Hopefully Marc will be able to race again in a week or two. It will be good to see him back racing, regardless of his finishing position.
Another unpredictable race. Normally really like the commentary but the Marquez nut hugging was way too much. A. Marquez is not even average in the top category. Has no business being on a factory ride and as shown by many other wet races less than mediocre riders often come to the front.
Basically he’s the 20 year old version of the 40 year old version of Collin Edwards. Riding not to crash is not racing.
A Marquez comes from mid pack start to almost catch the leader, finish a strong second, and “he has no business being on a factory ride”, really? gosh good thing you pointed that out, maybe you should be there instead, right! proof that anyone can post anything here, ….
Thanks joe b. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Also, Kini obviously never watched Edwards race.
Nine races in, we have seven different winners. If someone had told you this would be the case, and that #93 wouldn’t garner any of those seven wins, okay, you’d assume he’d spent the year parked on the sidelines. No way, however, would anyone assume that a healthy #46 wouldn’t have collected at least one of those seven wins, during a season in which KTM has won two races.
The End Times are near.
🙂
Huh, I’d have bet with confidence against Rossi winning, regardless of five or ten different winners. He’s over three years since a win and has a fairly low percentage over the last decade. He is seriously old for a premier class pilot and is hanging on by his past incredible performance, that mostly ended in 2009. Vale hasn’t liked his bike/tire package for years. Most of his last several opportunities at wins ended in crashes. He stated that he didn’t understand what happened in some of these. There are many fast young guys now, and competitive packages exist within almost every team. MotoGP insiders started saying more than a year ago that it is very unlikely for him to take another win. Anyone, but an Aprilia rider or Tito Rabat, could win this year, but Rossi is quite far back in likelihood.
Same here. If I were a betting man, I’d bet against Rossi getting another MotoGP win. This year, or any year.
The reason the back markers finished up front is because they are not championship contenders and had nothing to lose. They pushed very hard in the wet. The championship contenders rode very carefully to avoid a DNF.
The top 8 finishers were all on V4s, which is no coincidence.
In-line 4s advantage is mid-corner, whereas v4s make their time on the exit. In the wet, the ‘point-and-squirt’ approach puts more heat in the tyres, and the in-lines just can’t do that.
Mat Oxley wrote an excellent article on this subject today.
Hence we had a championship battle taking place from 9th backwards. Fabio’s last corner pass on Mir was very significant, and his team celebrated that.
I am discounting Dovi at this point, and even with the machinery advantage this weekend, he didn’t grasp the opportunity fully.
Given that we’re looking at a season being run later in the year, wet weather and lower temperatures are more likely, there could be a few more ‘freak’ races coming our way.
I think the v-4 vs. I-4 debate gets too much attention. Until Rins made a mistake, he was on his way to winning the race. The result on the day had more to do with the lottery like nature of a “freak” race, where nobody expected the conditions they wound up racing in.
Noone midcorners like that guy who is out injured these days. On his V4…… He’s the world’s smallest and most flexible alien as well, though, so I’m not sure how well any of that translates to anything.
V4s does tend to force COG a bit rearward. A trait which, in isolation, is punished marginally less by wheelie limiting electronics in the wet and slippery, than it is in the dry. V4s also allow for slightly lower mounting, as well as encourages slightly longer wheelbases, both of which theoretically would help in the wet by keeping weight on tires more consistent. It may not make any practical difference, particularly at MotoGP budgets, though. Or it might, considering how the light, small MGO chassis are rather sensitive to small changes i engine placement. Regardless, I doubt anyone not in the thick it, can effectively reason about how it all comes together in the wet vs not wet.
As for engine characteristics, at least if naively extrapolating from pre-electronics hearsay, you’d think the Yamahas would have the best power delivery of all, for the wet and slippery. But; nowadays, it’s probably mainly a battle of the computers and sensors, as well as how well those communicate with the alien in charge.
That was a dramatic race, eh? When Dovi’s tires started going away? A. Marquez really came good, too. I wonder if this will change him? It was pretty surprising to see several “never Evers” ride so well in the wet and a few experienced guys (Rossi, Crutchlow) put their bikes down.
Alex Marquez was a hero. Congrats! Great race. I usually just watch from the start to finish, but enjoyed the entire video yesterday. Felt so bad for Rins and Miller, esp. the latter.
Is not that Michelin Man “#1” sign one of the chintziest POS to populate the post race carnival?
Boy, poor VR46 just can not get that #200 podium. Sad.
That was a fun race. I feel bad for Rins and Miller. The Suzukis have been impressive this year, which is nice to see. I wish Kawasaki would get in on this one day. Congratulations to Alex Marquez. Way to hang in there and keep the pressure on!
Hats off to today’s podium winners. I can’t hardly stomach watching wet races and can’t imagine the nerves required to actually run a wet race on such a powerful two wheeled machine.
FQ’s poor (by comparison) performances on wet tracks (almost the entire weekend) doesn’t speak well of him being of championship caliber.
Agree with KTMracer. What a bizarre season. Seems like no one really wants to win the championship, its like ” hey #93 is out, let’s take turns winning races.”
Great rides by Danilo and young Marquez, and also great effort by Pol.
The Championship leader is averaging 11 points a race. How sad is that.
I think it is terribly unfortunate. Riders aren’t even showing consistency on the same dry tracks in back-to-back weeks. If nothing changes, Stoner’s comment about having a hard time seeing 2020 as a championship year is going to be vindicated.
I was really impressed by the younger Marquez brother. Marquez the elder seemed to often make moves that were dangerous to the other racers. No question that he was generally good enough
I was really impressed with the younger Marquez brother. Very patient and careful rider.
What a bizarre season. The championship leader finishes 9th and still manages to increase his points lead!! Great rides by the top 8 guys. Really nice to see Alex get 2nd and great to see Danilo win again.