MotoGP: Marquez also wins the French Grand Prix

GDN - Marc Marquez enjoyed another fantastic race weekend, taking his third consecutive victory this season, the 64th of his career, and his 38th in MotoGP, equalling Casey Stoner“™s Premier Class GP win tally and extending his own Championship lead to 36 points over second-place rider Maverick Viñales.

The only rider on a hard Michelin rear tyre, Marc managed the race perfectly in every phase, on a track that is usually challenging for him. He kept his cool during the early laps until his tyres were ready, took the lead after the crashes of Title-chase rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Johann Zarco, and eventually built a comfortable gap at the front, which he managed until the chequered flag fell.

Excellent and deserved second place for Danilo Petrucci Ducati Team Alma Pramac. Petrucci did a wonderful race and for a few laps it seemed he still had some margin to overcome Marc Marquez but he preferred not to risk and settle for the splendid second place. At Le Mans he had arrived to cheer for his champion also the Fans Club of Bergamo, which is based in the Pub "Enostrano" so at the end of the race they made a big party.

Valentino Rossi Team Movistar Yamaha showed once again you should never count him out for the race, regardless of his starting position. He displayed a competitive pace aboard his YZR-M1 throughout today's entire Grand Prix de France, to take a strong third place on the podium. Rossi had a brilliant start, rushing from ninth to sixth place in the first corners.

Marc Marquez 1° “I“™m particularly happy with this win here in Le Mans, as it“™s one of the most difficult tracks for us! Today I was the only one on a hard rear tyre, and that made my approach to the race a bit different because I knew it would take a little more time to reach the right temperature. But during the warm-up, I had the opportunity to verify that once the tyre was ready, it was very constant, and I was able to keep a very good rhythm. To be honest, things were a bit challenging at the beginning of the race: Zarco touched me in the second corner and I went a bit wide, then Iannone crashed and nearly hit me, so I lost some more positions. I decided to cool down for a while. When I saw that Dovi and Johann were out, my approach to the race again changed a bit. At a certain point, I had one big moment in turn three, where I had already crashed in FP3, which is why I was being extremely careful there; I think that helped me to avoid a crash in that moment. I“™m currently experiencing a very “˜sweet“™ period with my bike, and when you“™ve got that kind of feeling, you also work better; then you ride better, and the bike works better. Things don't exactly become easier when you get into this zone, but they“™re more “˜natural.“™ Of course it“™s a very long season, and not all the races will be the same, so we“™ll just try and keep the momentum.“

Danilo Petrucci 2° "It's a great result. I was not able to start well but I was still with the group from the first lap. I had a good pace and great confidence. We have done a great job this weekend. I'm also happy for having given the team a great satisfaction. See you at Mugello, Hoping to do a race like this in Le Mans or because there will be so many of my fans even better"

Valentino Rossi 3° “Since yesterday, we“˜ve worked well. I was feeling quite pessimistic after qualifying, but we made two or three modifications to the balance of the bike that gave me more grip and also made me lose less in acceleration. Already this morning in the warm up I was not so bad, so I thought “I can do a good race“, but starting from the third row is always difficult. You have to stay concentrated, but I had a great start and right from the first lap I was able to overtake. I was in the right group. The other positive thing was that after that lap I was fast, I did good lap times and I had a good pace, this is very important. I hope that we can continue to work strongly, like we did today, to further improve the bike“.

GP of France - Race Classification:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 41'49.773
2. Danilo PETRUCCI Alma Pramac Racing +2.310
3. Valentino ROSSI Movistar Yamaha MotoGP +5.350
4. Jack MILLER Alma Pramac Racing +6.314
5. Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +7.419
6. Jorge LORENZO Ducati Team +10.355
7. Maverick VIÑALES Movistar Yamaha MotoGP +23.758
8. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL +25.795
9. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +26.206
10. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +27.937
11.Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing+32.304
12. Hafizh SYAHRIN Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +34.962
13. Franco MORBIDELLI EG 0,0 Marc VDS +37.881
14. Bradley SMITH Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +38.299
15. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU +41.986

16. Thomas LUTHI EG 0,0 Marc VDS +45.260
17. Karel ABRAHAM Angel Nieto Team +56.872
18. Xavier SIMEON Reale Avintia Racing +1'12.117
Not Classified
45 Scott REDDING Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
53 Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing
5 Johann ZARCO Monster Yamaha Tech 3
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team
19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Angel Nieto Team
29 Andrea IANNONE Team SUZUKI ECSTAR

MotoGP World Standings 2018:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda 95
2. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 59
3. Johann ZARCO Yamaha 58
4. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 56
5. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 54
6. Jack MILLER Ducati 49
7. Andrea IANNONE Suzuki 47
8. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 46
9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 46
10. Dani PEDROSA Honda 29
11. Tito RABAT Ducati 24
12. Alex RINS Suzuki 22

13. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 18
14. Jorge LORENZO Ducati 16
15. Franco MORBIDELLI Honda 16
16. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 13
17. Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha 13
18. Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati 12
19. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 10
20. Mika KALLIO KTM 6
21. Scott REDDING Aprilia 5
22. Bradley SMITH KTM 5
23. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 1
24. Thomas LUTHI Honda
25. Xavier SIMEON Ducati