Race report by Karrbon Copy.
Well done, France! This weekend the crowds at Le Mans shattered the Weekend Attendance Record, with over 300 000 fans descending on the Le Mans Bugatti circuit to witness history – and they didn’t even know it.
Moto3:
Unfortunately, our South African Junior representative, Moodley, was declared unfit to race after his nasty crash in the last race.
Rosenthaler would be sitting in for him in the meantime. This guy has now subbed for three different teams this season. Perhaps, this was his calling.
No Bertelle on the grid for the foreseeable future either!
Rossi was slapped with a Long Lap Penalty for his very obvious cruising on the racing line during Practise.
The race was declared dry, under the cover of some nasty grey clouds, and with the odd damp patch still lingering on parts of the track.
Yamanaka crashed on lap two, after the gentlest of taps from Pérez as Yamanaka was going around the outside of the Spaniard. After rushing to lift his bike from the gravel and jumping on again, Yamanaka was informed by the marshals that his bike was in no state to return to the track. Still, Ryusei was very reluctant to abandon his hopes of continuing the race.
We are unsure what the marshals used to coax him off in the end, but it took a while.
On the track, we were treated to a myriad of epic battles throughout the field.
During the seventh lap, O’Shea found himself in the dust again, at Turn Eight.
By the end of Lap Eight, Nepa head-shakingly retired to his pit box.
Cruces slipped out of the race at the sixth turn by Lap Nine.
When Pérez was given a Long Lap Penalty, some wondered if it was due to the contact with Yamanaka earlier, and became temporarily perplexed.
But it was soon revealed that Pérez had taken a shortcut over at Turn Nine, and that was the reason for the penalty.
On lap ten, turn ten, Piqueras crashed in the most chaotic, acrobatic manner we’ve seen in ages: first, his bike shook him off, after which it skidded to the gravel and made one last flip before passing out. While the motorcycle was mid-flip, Piqueras came tumbling after it, headbutting its front wheel mid-air, whereafter Angel made a majestic forward in order to plant a leg-slam across the body of the down machine.
You had to see it, really.
Piqueras got up, evidence showing that he was not in the least happy with the situation.
Apparently Rosenthaler crashed at some point? And remounted? Oh.
During the fourteenth lap, Pini had a little slip-up at Turn Eight. He remounted impressively fast, and went on to give the marshals a pebble-shower while spinning off in the direction of the track.
A final-lap, last-corner overtake that was so typically Muñoz. David ended up making a lot of contact with then-race-leader Kelso, sending both riders off the track – but, miraculously, neither crashed – and essentially they gifted Rueda the victory.
Muñoz, who crossed the line in second, was quickly told to drop one position for his Muñozzy ways. Or, as Race Direction worded it: For ‘causing a contact’. We swear, sometimes this content writes itself.
So, Rueda claimed the win, Kelso got second thanks to Muñoz’s penalty, and Muñoz had to be content with third
Moto2:
There was no South African representation in the Middle Class either. Binder Junior had been deemed unfit to race after picking up an injury during Friday Practise.
Another victim of Friday was Escrig, who would also not partake in the weekend’s festivities due to injury.
López started the race with a Long Lap Penalty to his name, for his role in the Guevara crash at Jerez.
The Warm-Up lap started, but Van den Goorbergh’s motorcycle did not! He was spotted speed-walking up and down the grid, looking perplexed, before his bike was pushed to pitlane, where it was successfully restarted. He would be able to race – but from pitlane.
On the opening lap, Veijer was spotted remounting his bike at Turn Eight, after a small spill, what was odd about it, was the fact that he was facing in the wrong direction.
Arbolino went arrow-straight through the gravel at Turn Eleven during the third lap. For those who might not know how corners work, you’re not supposed to go straight when you encounter them.
Having taken a shortcut at Turn Nine, Agius was handed a single-use ticket to the Long Lap Loop.
Baltus became the first-ever Moto2 rider to do a sub-1:35-minute race lap of Le Mans, as he chased down the leaders.
While navigating Lap Twelve, Navarro slipped off at Turn Eight, trailing more sparks than your neighbourhood slammed Polo, thus earning himself the Sparky Award.
When he got to his feet, his shoulders were drooped to such an extent that his hands were ploughing grooves in the gravel as he walked.
As he was going through Turn Four on Lap Fourteen, Canet was very nearly turned into a human ground-to-air missile. He very successfully countered his launch, and managed to continue his race with very little delay.
Guevara retired to the pits by the end of Lap Seventeen. Was it due to pain or mechanical issues? We don’t know, either.
Successfully fending off Baltus, González took yet another Moto2 victory. Baltus was content with a close second, while Canet emerged the victor of the epic battle for third spot.
Just as González crossed the finish line, little spots of water could be spied on the camera lens – was the two p.m. shower coming in a little early?
MotoGP:
Saturday Sprint Race:
As far as Sprints go, this one was a solid medium. Not heart-stoppingly controversial, but at least something happened to entertain us.
Morbidelli had a really k*k start, hopping off the line like he was in a bunny race.
Probably the biggest plot-twist of the race happened on Lap Two. Entering the third turn, Bagnaia went sprawling. Physically, he was unharmed, but we cannot confirm how severe the injury to his ego could be.
During the fourth lap, Bezzecchi made a wrong turn, and found himself trekking through gravel instead of over tarmac. He did manage to reroute and find the track again, but was now stone last.
Also on Lap Four, Binder’s KTM suddenly buckled oddly beneath him, causing him to tumble off the track. Although he was on his feet in a flash, his race was over.
Oliveira fell for the same wrong turn as Bezzecchi four laps later.
Fabio versus Fabio: rubbing – read bumping – is racing! It was a short battle, but it was entertaining.
During the final lap, Viñales completely missed the track going through one of the sweeping right-handers.
Acosta tumbled on the final lap, at Turn Thirteen but managed to rejoin.
Marc Márquez won another Sprint Race. He has officially become the only MotoGP rider ever to win six of them. Little brother Bridesmaid Márquez finished second, again, while Di Giannantonio snatched up third after successfully fending off Quartararo.
Main Race:
What in the MotoGP did we just witness?
How does one put all this down in words? Guess we’ll just give it our best summary-shot then!
Let us start by covering the weather: From the moment the Grand Prix riders began readying themselves for the race, the weather was about as stable as a Karen at a Starbucks.
Rain. No rain. More rain. Less rain. Wetter. Drying out. It just could not make up its mind.
On the grid everyone had basically chosen to start with slick tyres, but the rain-bikes were lining pitlane.
While on the Warm-Up lap, Quartararo had a near-crash-experience. Also, the rain flags were yanked out.
Every last rider peeling straight into the pits post-Warm-Up, triggering the White Flag’s more temperamental cousin, Red Flag, to emerge.
The race was delayed. Everyone swapped to rain tyres. Everyone except Savadori. He had nothing to lose, so why not gamble?
It was even confusing for us shouting at the TV!
With the original start aborted, they soon announced that a Quick Restart would follow, with Pit Lane reopening at 14:08 for a now Wet Race, over twenty-six laps instead of the original twenty-seven.
After the second Sighting Lap, about half of the grid disappeared back down Pit Lane, having changed their minds a second time regarding what tyres to wear. Thankfully they didn’t trigger another restart. They would, however, all start from their original grid positions, and would have to serve a Double Long Lap Penalty each. That poor Long Lap Loop must’ve felt like a prostitute on open mic night…!
Finally, the race started. Note how this segment is already longer than some of the other races covered, and we haven’t completed a single damn lap.
Remember Bagnaia’s Turn Three chicane slide in the Sprint? Well, he enjoyed it so much, he did it again in the main race, this time on the opening lap, and with a little help from a sliding Bastianini.
The two riders went sliding off, collecting Mir on the way, and forcing Zarco into a gravelly detour. Keep that last bit tucked away for future reference. Trust us.
Among those who were handed Double Long Lap Penalties for their pre-race tyre-swapping antics, were:
Viñales, Quartararo, Morbidelli, Bastianini, Raúl Fernández, Ogura, Aldeguer, both Márquezs, Acosta, Di Giannantonio, and Binder. If we missed anyone, we blame the guys responsible for the on-screen notices. But we don’t blame them too much, since that screen lit up like a Christmas tree as the penalties registered one after another.
Bastianini had to do double the Double Long Laps, for taking out Bagnaia in that opening lap scuffle. If math isn’t your thing, that meant he had to do four trips through the Long Lap Loop. Ouch!
At the end of the first lap, a whole herd of riders pitted for another tyre swap – and they say women are indecisive.
By Lap Four, Quartararo and Binder teamed up for a tandem synchronised slip and slide off at the final corner. Nine out of ten for synchronicity of movements.
Binder did remount, sadly only to suffer a second tumble three laps later, this time at Turn Two.
Bastianini had his second slip-up (or down, as it were) at Turn Fourteen on Lap Five.
Frankly, by this time there had been more race laps through pitlane than there had been down the Start/Finish straight.
Morbidelli slid out on Lap Six, at Turn Four.
Turn Fourteen – aka the final corner – was racking up a body count that would impress a serial killer. On Lap Eight, it claimed Miller as one of its many victims.
On the same lap, Bezzecchi found himself in the gravel at the Turn Nine-Ten chicane.
And then, for a few laps, everything kind of… simmered down a bit. The weather remained in its constant state of temper-tantrum, but the riders who were still on the track seemed to have gotten fairly used to it.
Then… On Lap Twenty, Oliveira entered Turn Fourteen, and quite suddenly found himself inverted, legs in the air, above his crashing motorcycle. He flipped over like a pancake mid-air, and narrowly escaped a mauling by his own bike upon landing.
Márquez (Álex) wanted to show off his mechanical bull-riding prowess, picking Turn Three on Lap Twenty-One as the perfect time to do so.
While his Ducati bucked violently underneath him, Álex became light as a feather, levitating above his ride while tethered to it by the tips of his fingers.
Unfortunately he didn’t quite nail the landing, and slid off the track. At least he could remount and continue the race… Just to crash again on Lap Twenty-Four. This time, Álex was whacked down on the left side without so much as a warning as he entered Turn Eleven.
Deep breaths, everybody. The pandemonium is almost over. and theres a white read and green Honda somewhere far in the distance…
The French fans were testing the strength of every pavilion and grand stand around the circuit as one of their own came nearer and nearer to victory with every passing lap.
It wasn’t the Frenchman everyone had pegged for the win, but it was still a very popular French national who claimed victory, over twenty seconds clear of the next rider:
Congratulations, Johann Zarco, for becoming the first French rider to win a home Grand Prix in seventy-one years! The last wasa Monneret all the way back in 1954.
But wait! Theres more! He also broke Ducati’s twenty-one-race winning streak!
All this by an “old” guy who was not even sure he had a ride in 2025!
Just for interest: Marc Márquez was the rider who took second, and the Rookie Aldeguer found himself on his maiden MotoGP podium in third.
Back to the French: We wouldn’t be surprised if France declared this week a special public holiday, and supplied every citizen with a free bottle of Prosecco.
Zarco had hardly managed to get into Parc Fermé, when he decided to jump the barriers and run off across the starting grid. Alright, it was more of a slightly brisk walk than a run, but still.
We were treated to the Zarco Backflip, to the even greater delight of the already manic French fans.
The men in black did eventually get the emotional Zarco back to Parc Fermé, where he struggled to Words and Sentences, both in English and in French.
Did you see his parents? We were concerned for his dad’s heart, the way the old man was screaming and yelling out. His mom was definitely very, very happy her son had invited her to this particular race weekend.
PS: We’re not crying, you’re crying.
It was, quite simply, EPIC.
~ Karr
