Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez took his third consecutive win of the 2018 MotoGP season, sealing the victory at Le Mans. The Spaniard started second on the grid behind Tech 3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco managed to take a late lead almost halfway into the race and then went on to secure yet another win for the season. Finishing behind Marquez were Danil Petrucci of Pramac Ducati finishing second, by a gap of 2.7 seconds, while Valentino Rossi made a strong recovery to third, having started sixth on the grid.
The 2018 French GP started with Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo in the lead followed by teammate Andrea Dovizioso in third place, and Johann Zarco sandwiched in between. It didn't take long for Zarco to pass Lorenzo to take the top spot as the latter ran wide on Turn 6, while Dovizioso was promoted to second place. As the top three riders started breaking away from the rest of the field, Dovizioso managed to pass Zarco to take the lead. It seemed that the Italian rider would go on to take a much-needed win at Le Mans, but that's when the unexpected happened.
(Zarco's run ended with 20 laps to go while in second place)
In a huge blow for his title hopes, Dovizioso crashed while in the lead with 22 laps to go, promoting Lorenzo back in the lead. Marc Marquez, who was running in fourth till now, took third and now aimed to bring another win home. While Lorenzo led at the front, Marquez picked off Zarco for second. However, Zarco was quick to retake P2 at Turn 3, edging closer to Lorenzo. But in another twist, the pole sitter's run was cut short as he crashed with 20 laps to go.
undefinedA rare, rare, rare mistake from @AndreaDovizioso!!!
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) May 20, 2018
He crashes out of the lead of the #FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/awYTFk70E4
Meanwhile, Marquez had the top spot clear in his sight and charged towards Lorenzo. By Lap 17, Marquez was in the lead as Lorenzo ran wide, while Danilo Petrucci followed suit at P2. Lorenzo's Ducati was pushed down to third as the Spaniard struggled to keep pace and was now facing competition from Rossi.
French GP 2018 Winners
With 15 laps to go, Rossi moved up to third at Garage Vert, and was aiming for a podium, which he secured by the end of the race. With 13 laps to go, Marquez soon was out of reach from the rest of the pack as Petrucci was a close second with a gap of just six tenths.
In the middle order, Jack Miller on the second Pramac Ducati passed Lorenzo to take fourth. The Ducati rider though wasn't going down without a fight and tried hard to hold on to fifth, despite increasing pressure from Dani Pedrosa of Honda. The Honda rider managed to nudge past Lorenzo into fifth with six laps to go.
Lorenzo eventually finished sixth, ahead of Maverick Vinales on the Yamaha. The Yamaha rider made a strong come back in the second half of the race after dropping to 11th midway.
undefinedThis ain't over! @Petrux9 is staying in touch with @marcmarquez93 and @ValeYellow46 is giving chase!#FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/Kqqlt5danB
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) May 20, 2018
After crashing during Q1 yesterday, Cal Crutchlow was back on race day starting 13th. The Briton showed some impressive riding in a late charge through the final laps and finished eighth, despite strong competition from Suzuki's Alex Rins, who finished 10th, behind Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia.
Pol Espargaro of KTM took 11th having started 17th on the grid, while Tech 3's Hafizh Syahrin took the 12th place ahead of Franco Morbidelli on the Marc VDS Honda. The last two points scorers were KTM's Bradley Smith and Takaaki Nakagami on the LCR Honda. Thomas Luthi (Marc VDS Honda), Karel Abraham (Nieto Ducati) and Xavier Simeon (Avintia Ducati) rounded up the riders.
With respect to retirements, crashing early in the race were Scott Redding on the second Aprilia, Tito Rabat of Avintia Ducati and Alvaro Bautista of Nieto Ducati.
With his third consecutive win, Marquez has stepped closer to his sixth world MotoGP championship title. The Spaniard leads the rider standings with 95 points, while Vinales is a distant second with 59 points. Zarco has moved down to third with 58 points, with Rossi up to fourth with a deficit of just 2 points. Dovizioso has seen the biggest drop in the points table and is currently ninth 46 points.
