MotoGP: French Grand Prix Preview – Anything Can Happen

Le Mans has been home to the French Grand Prix on 31 previous occasions, stretching back to 1969 and being a permanent fixture since 2000.

The weekend is more like more like a Glastonbury festival rather than a MotoGP weekend, with fans partying all through the night and only collectively getting in a winks sleep but that’s what makes Le Mans so special.

Battle Intensifies

This weekend, Marc Marquez enters the weekend as championship leader ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins, the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi is only 9 points off Marquez.

The Repsol Honda rider knows that he will face tougher competition this weekend as the Honda hasn’t traditionally suited the French circuit as well as its rivals. Yamaha 3 of out of the last 4 seasons at Le Mans – Lorenzo (2015/16) and Viñales coming out on top after an epic scrap with his team mate Rossi in 2017. They have been victorious 6 times in the previous 10 seasons.

Ducati has never tasted victory at the circuit but had both Jorge Lorenzo and Dovizioso lead the race at one stage in 2018, before Lorenzo fell back and Dovizioso crashed from the lead at la Chapelle. The nature of the circuit should suit the Ducati as there are lots of 1st and 2nd gear corners in which plays into the Ducati’s strengths. Stopping late into the corner, picking the bike up early and using the traction to put the power down to get an early exit from the corner. 2019 could potentially see the Bologna Bullet pick up it’s first French victory.

Mission Without

The French GP will see the Ducati Team – as they will be known this weekend – run without their Phillip Morris branding of “Mission Winnow”. This is down to the French authorities putting strict bans on any form of tobacco branding. Just as the Ferrari Formula 1 team had at Melbourne Australia earlier this year, the branding didn’t appear on their cars.

In its place the fairings of the Ducati team will feature the names of the riders and ina unique twist the riders have been allowed to put their own designs into their names. Something both Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci are both relishing “I’m looking forward to see how it will look on my Desmosedici GP in Le Mans, said Dovizioso. Petrucci felt like Christmas had come early – “To ride a Ducati with my name on it in MotoGP is simply fantastic. I would have never dreamed about this.”

Expect something similar later in the year at Phillip Island in Australia as the government their are also very strict on tobacco branding.

Qualifiying Struggles

1 front row from 35 starts is not a stat that Alex Rins would like to read. Both Rins and Suzuki come into this weekend looking to improve on this weakness, “we know the points we definitely need to work on to improve further, one of them is qualifying” states Rins’ crew chief Manuel Cazeaux speaking to MotoGP.com.

Rins is 1 point off of Marc Marquez in the championship lead and both himself and the Suzuki like genuine championship contenders but there results on Sunday may be hampered by low qualifying positions.

In Numbers

12 – number of victories by Spanish riders (the most of any other nation) – Jorge Lorenzo (x5), Sete Gibernau (x2), Marc Marquez (x2), Alex Criville, Dani Pedrosa & Maverick Viñales all have one win apiece.

14 – the most wins by a manufacturer – Honda (14 wins), Yamaha (10 wins), Suzuki (5 wins), MV Agusta (2 wins).

5 – the most wins held Jorge Lorenzo, the most by any rider – Valentino Rossi (x3), Marc Marquez, Sete Gibernau, Mick Doohan, Kevin Schwantz, Freddie Spencer, Barry Sheene & Giacomo Agostini (x2), Maverick Vinales, Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Chris Vermuelen, Marco Melandri, Max Biaggi, Alex Eddie Lawson & Randy Mamola (x1).

Moto2

Lorenzo Baldassarri comes into Round 5 as the man to beat, he has won 3 of the first 4 race in 2019 and sits 17 points ahead of Thomas Luthi.

Luthi has found himself victorious at the circuit in 2005 and 2006 in the 125cc class and more recently in 2012 & 14 in Moto2. He is the only rider currently competing in Moto2 to have won at Le Mans within the class.

KTM’s Brad Binder is the only other rider competing in Moto2 that has won in any other class – Moto3 in 2016. KTM will be looking for a big weekend as they looking to reignite some championship fight.

Moto3

Aron Canet leads the championship, 1 point ahead of Sic58 Squadro Corsa team rider Niccolo Antonelli.

Antonelli picked up the teams first win and their first 1-2 finish ahead of team mate Suzuki. Antonelli became the 4th different winner in as many races and 9th different winner in the previous 9 races.

There have been 10 different riders on the podium in 2019 and only Jaime Masia and Aron Canet have stood on the podium more than once.

Albert Arenas (2018) and Romano Fenati (2015) are the only two riders competing in Moto3 that have won previously at Le Mans.

Anything can happen in Moto3 and especially around the French circuit as last year showed. With Jakob Kornfeil motorcossing over Lorenzo Dalla Porta’s Leopard Honda exciting the final corner. So predicting what will happen during the race is nearly an impossible task.

Opinion

Le Mans is an incredibly tough track with 80% of it stop-start in nature, this gives the riders and teams an incredible challenge of trying to find a setup where the bike can stop in an instance, turn quickly and put the traction from read wheel to the circuit smoothly and effectively.

On paper, this suits the style of Dovizioso and Ducati but neither have won in the MotoGP class. Marquez has been the only rider from 4 races to more than one win with victories in Argentina and Jerez. He was victoriois12 months earlier at Le Mans and the Honda and Marquez are looking incredibly tough to beat.

Yamaha have always gone well at Le Mans and will looking to pick up their first win since Phillip Island last year. Maverick Viñales won in 2017 after Rossi fell off on the final lap but Rossi hasn’t tasted victory at the French venue since 2008 when he lead home an all Yamaha podium.

What about Fabio Quartararo? He became the youngest pole sitter last time out and his fellow countryman Johann Zarco was on pole in 2018 on a Yamaha. Could we see the young Frenchman take his first win? Who knows.

One thing I do know is unlike Jerez where most predicted a Marquez win. Le Mans can always throw up a strange result and anyone in top 10 could win, it’s too unpredictable to call and let’s not get started about the weather.