MotoGP ; Deuxième victoire consécutive pour Lorenzo / Lorenzo vanquishes all MotoGP™

Comme à Jerez deux semaines plus tôt, Jorge Lorenzo a été intouchable en course au Mans et a fini loin devant Rossi et Dovizioso.

De retour au sommet de sa forme à Jerez, où il avait remporté sa première victoire de l’année après un début de saison décevant, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) enchaîne avec un nouveau succès au Monster Energy Grand Prix de France. 

Troisième sur la grille, le Majorquin a fait de son mieux pour s’emparer de la première position dès le premier tour, comme à son habitude, et a réussi à faire le break. 

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) est remonté de la septième position sur la grille jusqu’à la deuxième place et a terminé avec une confortable avance sur Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), de retour sur le podium après un week-end compliqué en Espagne. 

Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) a rencontré quelques difficultés en début de course et a remporté un magnifique duel avec Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) pour la quatrième place tandis que Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) complétait le Top 6, juste derrière l’Italien.

Loris Baz (Athinà Forward Racing) a obtenu une très encourageante douzième place à domicile, derrière le premier pilote Open, l’Américain Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team).

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) est tombé dès le deuxième tour mais a pu repartir pour rallier l’arrivée, en seizième position. 

Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) a été forcé d’abandonner après une chute.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider carved out a substantial gap to claim a decisive victory.

After starting from 3rd position on the grid, the Mallorcan quickly dropped the pack and enjoyed a solitary race to the finish line.

The Spaniard shares the podium with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) started in pole but dropped back as the race got underway. The Spaniard normally runs a carbon cover on his brake discs to retain temperature, but he didn't  use this part in Le Mans. Whatever the issue, Marquez typically overcame it and went on to fight an epic battle with Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) to claim 4th place, relegating the Italian to fifth.

Marquez’s team mate Dani Pedrosa crashed in the early stages of the race, but remounted. Even though the Spanish rider had no chance of claiming points, it was vital for hit to rejoin the race and test how his injured arm holds up over race distance.

Brit Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finished in 6th, having better fortune than his compatriots. Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda) crashed out of the race on turn 6, losing the front on the difficult downhill curve. Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) also crashed out of the race after completing just 3 laps of the Le Mans circuit.

Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Yonny Hernández (Pramac Racing), Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP) and Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing) complete the top ten.

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Márquez en pole au Mans pour la quatrième année d’affilée / Marquez takes pole, Lorenzo bides his time…

Le Champion du Monde en titre a brillé en qualifications pour remporter sa troisième pole position de la saison 2015.

Sixième des essais libres de samedi matin au Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) a quelque peu surpris par l’excellence de sa performance en qualifications et a décroché sa quatrième pole position consécutive sur le circuit du Mans en tournant une demi-seconde plus vite que ses adversaires.

Le Champion du Monde en titre a signé la pole 2015 en 1’32.246 et n’était vraiment pas loin du record (1’32.042) dont il avait lui-même été l’auteur l’an dernier. 

Constamment aux avant-postes depuis son arrivée au circuit Bugatti, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) s’est confirmé comme l’un des favoris au podium au fil des séances mais n’a par contre pas pu lutter contre Márquez en qualifications et a fini en seconde position, à 0.503s de l’Espagnol.

Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a de son côté pris une troisième place qu’il estimait décevante après un dernier tour raté. Le Majorquin est selon les feuilles de temps le pilote qui dispose du meilleur rythme de course pour la cinquième manche de la saison, ce que Márquez a lui-même reconnu en conférence de presse. 

Derrière le trio de tête, Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) et Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), auteur du meilleur temps la veille, se sont assurés un départ en deuxième ligne. 

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) demeure de son côté toujours aussi fâché avec les qualifications et a fini en septième position. Le leader du classement général n’a jamais été en première ligne cette année et a remporté ses deux victoires au Qatar et en Argentine en partant de la huitième position.

Il partagera la troisième ligne avec Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), qui semble se sentir de mieux en mieux physiquement, et Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing). L’Italien avait dû passer par la séance Q1, dont il avait été le plus rapide, et a ensuite devancé Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Yonny Hernández (Pramac Racing) et Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) en Q2 pour prendre la neuvième position.

Seizième, Stefan Bradl (Athinà Forward Racing) sera la première pilote Open sur la grille de départ et partira juste devant Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) tandis que Loris Baz (Athinà Forward Racing) s’élancera de la 22e position.

The final qualifying session leaves the Honda rider first, but Lorenzo demonstrated a consistent pace that could prove useful on race day...

The final qualifying session of the Monster Energy Grand Prix sees Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) back in pole position for the third time this season. He was over half a second quicker than Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), with Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) left to take third place on the front row in Sunday's race.

The pole position changed hands several times during the final round, but Marquez dropped his time to 1'32.246 to take his third pole position of the season. The World Champion clearly sees Lorenzo as a threat though: "In qualifying we used the best setup that we had found. We were lucky that the track was in good condition which allowed me to ride normally. I am happy with pole position and tomorrow a tough race awaits us, because Jorge especially has a very good pace. We will try to be as close to him as we can!"

Lorenzo seems to agree, believing he can do better: "The conditions were difficult on the track, you have to be careful with slicks and stay confident. We were lucky on the last lap to have 99% of the track dry and I pushed quite a bit. It was a pity that I didn‘t ride any good laps and was slower than I was in FP3. I made a mistake in sector three and lost probably half a second, but I was lucky not to go outside of the track and ride a very good sector four, which put me on the first row.”

Dovizioso was satisfied with a front row start, but also believes he has more pace to extract: “The front row is fine and it is also very important because in MotoGP it’s always essential to start as far up the grid as possible. I could probably have been a bit closer to Marquez and try and go for pole, but in any case I set a good lap time”.

The second row will be headed by Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda). The Brit has remained among the fastest in the weekend's practice sessions. His position also places him as the best satellite rider, ahead of countryman Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who was sixth after leading FP2 on Friday.

Between Crutchlow and Smith, Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) managed a creditable fifth. As we have seen in Free Practice, the rider is recovering after dislocating his shoulder during testing in Mugello.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) will start seventh in the attempt to defend his lead in the championship standings. His main rivals, Marquez and Lorenzo, will start the race way ahead on the front row, so his chances will lie in choosing the right tyre and an aggressive initial push to avoid losing the front runners.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) continues his comeback after undergoing surgery to solve the problems in his right forearm. Tomorrow he starts from a respectable 8th on the grid and he appears happy with his pace: "This first qualifying session back has not gone badly. We could have gone a little faster but in the end I didn't quite manage it. The positive news is that today I am feeling a little better physically than yesterday and that's a good thing!”

The MotoGP action continues on May 17 at 09:40 local time with the warm up session. The race will commence at 14:00.

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Moto GP; Dovizioso s’empare de la pole position au Qatar / Dovizioso grabs sensational pole for Ducati

L’Italien a devancé Dani Pedrosa et Marc Márquez en qualifications au Circuit International de Losail.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) a remporté la première pole position de la saison MotoGP™ 2015 au Grand Prix Commercial Bank du Qatar, démontrant de nouveau l’excellent potentiel de la nouvelle Desmosedici GP15, qui sera donc en tête de la grille pour sa première course.

En pole pour la troisième fois de sa carrière en MotoGP™, l'Italien a battu Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) de deux bons dixièmes de seconde tandis que ce dernier a lui-même devancé son coéquipier Marc Márquez, le Champion du Monde en titre, qui avait dominé les trois premières séances d’essais du week-end.

Andrea Iannone (Ducati), Yonny Hernández (Pramac Racing), le premier pilote satellite sur la grille, et Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) se sont qualifiés en deuxième ligne, devant Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), rescapé de la Q1, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) et Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing).

Deuxième du classement combiné vendredi soir, Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda) est tombé en qualifications et sera douzième sur la grille, derrière Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Aleix Espargaró (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR).

Les Français Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) et Loris Baz (Athinà Forward Racing) partiront des seizième et vingt-troisième positions.

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Andrea Dovizioso takes pole position for his Ducati Team on the Desmosedici GP15, ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez in Qatar.

It was always going to be close in QP2, and the first qualifying session of the season did not disappoint as Dovizioso took a sensational pole position for the factory Ducati Team ahead of the Repsol Honda’s of Marquez (+0.324s) and Pedrosa (+0.217s).

At the end of the session you could see how much this pole meant to Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Team General Manager) who oversaw the development of the new GP15 from scratch. Reigning MotoGP™ Champion Marquez had no response to Dovizioso’s pace on the softer option tyre and had to settle for 3rd on the grid behind his teammate Pedrosa.
 
Andrea Iannone will start from the front of the second row in 4th on the other factory Ducati, with Pramac Racing’s Yonny Hernandez (+0.562s) making it three Ducati’s in the top five, in 5th place. Jorge Lorenzo (+0.598s) is in 6th, with Bradley Smith (+0.618s) heading the 3rd row on the satellite Monster Tech 3 Yamaha finishing ahead of the Factory YZR-M1 of Valentino Rossi (+0.738s), who will start from 8th.

CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, who had shown impressive pace during practice, crashed out at turn 14 and had to settle for 12th place.

Earlier in Q1 Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci led right from the start, setting a time seven-tenths quicker than his best from practice and claiming top spot. The battle for the second automatic qualifying spot was won by Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith in dramatic fashion. The British rider pinching 2nd place from Maverick Viñales on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR right at the end of the session, after the checkered flag had been shown.

The MotoGP™ race will take place on Sunday at 21:00 local time.

Click here for the full qaulifying results.