Tenth in trying French GP for Marini, points for Zarco at home
Le MansLuca Marini made the most of a dry race day in Le Mans, once again fighting for top Honda honours
With cooler temperatures predicted and the threat of rain always on the horizon as the MotoGP World Championship field lined up on the grid, Luca Marini elected to run the soft front tyre. This choice allowed the #10 to make up a handful of positions off the start, but as the ambient temperatures increased the Italian switched to conservation mode as his tyre life began to fade. Despite lacking front stability, Marini still pushed until the very end to catch Aldeguer for ninth place and ended the 27-lap race just 0.1s back. Tenth place moves Marini to 33 World Championship points, six behind Bastianini and the top ten overall.
Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) was determined to fight for the best possible result at his home GP, but the Frenchman was forced to take evasive action following contact with another rider. This resulted in him running wide and losing positions. In the end, Zarco managed to stay focused during his recovery ride and crossed the line in 11th place, scoring points and gathering valuable information ahead of next week's race.
Starting from sixth on the grid, Joan Mir immediately made his presence known as he put pressure on the front runners. Resuming his race-long battle with the likes of Quartararo from Saturday, the #36 stayed locked into the battle for the top five as he traded places with the home hero and Ogura for multiple laps. Biding his time, Mir kept the pressure on Quartararo and slipped past into sixth with eight laps remaining. Unfortunately, a heavy fall would follow on the next lap, ending Mir’s race and resulting in a laceration which required stitches to his right hand at the circuit medical centre.
It was a difficult day for Pro Honda LCR's Diogo Moreira, who started from 18th on the grid and wanted to score more points following his top-nine result in the Sprint race. Unfortunately, while battling for a top-ten position, the Brazilian rider ran slightly wide and ended up in the gravel. Despite today's result, Moreira had a solid weekend, learning session after session and gathering valuable experience and information.
There will be no rest for the riders as the next round, the CatalanGP, gets underway on Friday 15 May.
A big pity today, my front tyre choice was the wrong one – who was expecting the sun in the race?! It was difficult to arrive at the end because there was a lot of movement by the end, on the other hand with the hard at the start of the race was on the limit because it was cold before the sun arrived. It’s positive that we finished tenth and still got some points after a weekend with ups and downs, but it’s not what we want anymore. There’s work to be done and in this race, we struggled more with race pace than other rounds this year.
A big pity today, my front tyre choice was the wrong one – who was expecting the sun in the race?! It was difficult to arrive at the end because there was a lot of movement by the end, on the other hand with the hard at the start of the race was on the limit because it was cold before the sun arrived. It’s positive that we finished tenth and still got some points after a weekend with ups and downs, but it’s not what we want anymore. There’s work to be done and in this race, we struggled more with race pace than other rounds this year.
It was a tough weekend. It wasn’t the performance we wanted. The little crash on Saturday morning affected my confidence, and once you lose a bit, you lose it everywhere. During today’s race, I tried to stay on the bike, but I wasn’t competitive and I struggled. Overall, the positive is that when I have a good feeling, we can see that something great is possible with this bike. The target is to repeat the strong performances we can achieve when we feel good. We’ll try again in Barcelona!
It was a tough weekend. It wasn’t the performance we wanted. The little crash on Saturday morning affected my confidence, and once you lose a bit, you lose it everywhere. During today’s race, I tried to stay on the bike, but I wasn’t competitive and I struggled. Overall, the positive is that when I have a good feeling, we can see that something great is possible with this bike. The target is to repeat the strong performances we can achieve when we feel good. We’ll try again in Barcelona!
Not the way we wanted to finish a really strong weekend for us because I think a top five result was there at the end. It was a crash I was not expecting. I had the hard front, able to stay behind Fabio safely, but when I passed him I had to be very aggressive to keep heat in the tyre. Under straight braking I lost the front early and I suffered a very hard crash, and I leave with a couple of stitches in my hand. Overall I am OK which is the most important thing.
Not the way we wanted to finish a really strong weekend for us because I think a top five result was there at the end. It was a crash I was not expecting. I had the hard front, able to stay behind Fabio safely, but when I passed him I had to be very aggressive to keep heat in the tyre. Under straight braking I lost the front early and I suffered a very hard crash, and I leave with a couple of stitches in my hand. Overall I am OK which is the most important thing.
Today was more difficult than yesterday. I was there fighting, but it was difficult to keep the pace. I made a mistake at Turn 9. I tried to catch the group, but I went wide and ended up crashing. After yesterday’s race, I was quite happy, so now it’s just a matter of continuing like this and improving race by race.
Today was more difficult than yesterday. I was there fighting, but it was difficult to keep the pace. I made a mistake at Turn 9. I tried to catch the group, but I went wide and ended up crashing. After yesterday’s race, I was quite happy, so now it’s just a matter of continuing like this and improving race by race.
