MotoGP: Petrucci wins in a wet Le Mans as Marquez takes first MotoGP podium

Round nine of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, the French Grand Prix, took place in Le Mans with Fabio Quartararo starting from pole position as he looked to extend his championship lead over Joan Mir, who started 14th. 

Jack Miller took the holeshot, although the start of Cal Crutchlow from fourth on the grid was notable, coming up to second and almost taking the lead at the second turn. But it was at turn three that the action ramped up, with Valentino Rossi crashing out, with Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales and Joan Mir all going wide and cutting turn four in avoidance, whilst at the front Miller led but was wide into the Dunlop chicane. 

Miller held onto the lead, whilst the two factory Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci made it three Ducatis in the top four, with only Fabio Quartararo interrupting the Bologna monopoly in the first corners of the race. However, Quartararo was soon shuffled back to fourth as Dovizioso and Petrucci went through into turn six. 

In turn 11 on the first lap, Petrucci took the lead from Miller, who was soon also under pressure from Dovizioso as the three Ducatis broke away from Quartararo in fourth.

The three Ducatis then proceeded to escape at the front, building a three-second gap behind them. The chase was soon taken up by Alex Rins, who was one of a few riders to pick the medium rear tyre but the only one to be able to make much of it in the opening stages. The Spaniard took a while to catch the Ducati trio, but finally arrived in the middle of the race to create a front quartet. Simultaneously, those behind were working to include themselves in the fight, too, with Pol Espargaro, Alex Marquez, Miguel Oliveira and Cal Crutchlow all closing in on the leaders. 

Although Rins was able to catch the Ducati riders, he also encountered the classic problem of an inline-four rider up against the more powerful V4s, especially those from Bologna, as he struggled to make a pass stick on Jack Miller. 

Rins had a couple of goes to get through that were unsuccessful before he tried at turn three on lap 18, as at the same time Andrea Dovizioso hit the front for the first time, demoting Petrucci to second. 

Whilst Dovizioso was able to hold on from Petrucci on the exit of turn four, Miller was once again able to frustrate Rins behind. As Miller re-passed Rins for the fourth time in the race, Cal Crutchlow crashed out, meaning the realistic contenders for the win were down to seven. 

Still on lap 18, but now heading to turn nine, the race was about to explode, as Petrucci tried to respond to Dovizioso  and Rins tried once more on Miller. Miller was forced wide by a frustrated Rins, who then saw a gap opening in front of him as Petrucci tried to go around the outside of Dovizioso. Miller cut the chicane and re-joined in third, ahead of Dovizioso who came off worse from the exchange, while Rins now had just one Ducati in front of him, piloted by Petrucci, although that lasted only briefly, as Miller came through yet again at turn one on the next lap, using the power of the Ducati.

That power was soon to run out, though, as Miller’s Desmosedici expired at the end of the back straight on lap 19, freeing Rins of the Australian’s shackles and dealing a major blow to the championship hopes of the #43.

This all also helped those behind, as Espargaro, Marquez and Oliveira continued to close. 

At the beginning of lap 20, having just been freed of Miller, Rins fell at turn three, throwing away his victory chances just eight laps from the end. By this point, Petrucci had a reasonable advantage of around two seconds over Dovizioso who had struggled to regain his rhythm after the incident at turn nine on lap 18, and behind the Italian now was Alex Marquez who had passed Pol Espargaro for fourth on the previous lap – that became third as Rins dropped from contention. Behind the Repsol Honda was still Espargaro, and closing in on the factory KTM was the Tech 3 KTM of Oliveira.

Petrucci’s gap was being reduced by Dovizioso with five laps to go, but it came at a cost for the #04. Dovizioso had no choice but to push to catch his teammate, but it meant using the last of what was left in his rear tyre three laps from the flag. With no grip left to defend with, the factory Ducati rider was at the mercy of Alex Marquez and then Pol Espargaro who dumped him off the podium to fourth place. 

Having passed Dovizioso, Marquez was closing on Petrucci, but he ran out of time, coming up just 1.273 seconds short of the #9 Ducati. 

It was Petrucci’s second MotoGP win, after his emotional triumph in Mugello last season. This race came in different, but no easier, circumstances as he led for almost the entire race to become the seventh different winner of this incredible 2020 MotoGP season. 

Behind Petrucci, Alex Marquez became the 14th different podium finisher of the year, coming from 18th on the grid to finish second for his first MotoGP podium. It has been a tough year for Marquez, as it has for Petrucci, with results being hard to come by. However, for Marquez, his confidence has grown in recent weeks and – just as his brother, Marc, did in 2013 – he found the rostrum in his first wet race with a MotoGP bike in Le Mans. 

Pol Espargaro took his third podium of the season after finishing third in both Styria and Emilia Romagna. The Spaniard is just the fourth rider to take three podiums this season, and only Joan Mir has more than the #44 in 2020 with four. 

Just off the podium was Dovizioso, which could be crucial for the championship. At points during the race, Dovizioso was as close as four points behind Fabio Quartararo in the championship, but that gap of course increased with Quartararo picking up spots and Dovizioso losing them towards the end. The #04 faces an 18-point deficit to the #20 as the championship heads to Aragon. 

Johann Zarco’s pace at the end of the race was unmatched and he closed in on Oliveira and Dovizioso, passing the Portuguese on the final lap to take fifth place and ensure three Ducatis finished in the top five for the first time this season. Oliveira, then, rounded out the top six in his first wet MotoGP race, finishing just under 1.5 seconds ahead of Takaaki Nakagami who was also strong at the end but could do no better than seventh. Stefan Bradl was eighth in what could be his last race in place of Marc Marquez this season, just ahead of Fabio Quartararo who salvaged ninth. 

On the final lap, Quartararo was battling in a three with Joan Mir and Maverick Vinales, and it could be crucial come Portimao that the Frenchman came out on top of that fight. Vinales was also able to overcome Mir, finishing 10th, whilst Mir was 11th. In reality, for Mir, the rain might have been a blessing even if he took a while to find some rhythm and finished only 11th, since his dry pace was not equal to that of Quartararo and the Spaniard would have struggled to make a good result. Losing only a couple of points to the Petronas Yamaha rider is not so bad for the #36, who is now 10 points down in the championship. 

Behind Mir were Brad Binder and Francesco Bagnaia, neither really making much of an impact in their first wet MotoGP races, finishing 12th and 13th respectively. Aleix Espargaro and Iker Lecuona completed both the points and the classified finishers, as Alex Rins pitted on the final lap after remounting and receiving the black and orange flag for a marshal’s strap that was fixed around the rear camera. 

Crashing at turn three on the first lap, Valentino Rossi was the first retirement, before Bradley Smith crashed at the final corner on lap eight. Tito Rabat then fell on lap 14, before Crutchlow and Morbidelli fell, and Miller had the bike issue to be the final retirement of the race.