The victory of a French rider at the French Motorcycle Grand Prix will still have to wait. Quartararo (Yamaha), who came fourth, however retains the lead in the world championship with four small points ahead of the Spaniard Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), 3rd on Sunday, and eight over Bastianini, again third in the general classification. Starting fifth behind the Frenchman and Espargaro, Bastianini (Ducati-Gresini) quickly took over his competitors to come face the factory Ducatis of Australian Jack Miller, whom he will overtake at halfway, and Bagnaia , then leading the race.
In the fight for victory against his compatriot who started on pole, Bastianini took advantage of an error by the official Ducati rider, under pressure as the gap between the two riders was small, to take the reins of the race and thus win his third victory of the season in seven rounds, after Qatar and the GP of the Americas. He is currently the only driver to have won more than one race this season. “I’m really happy with this race because this victory is unexpected, the weekend was complicated”, reacted the winner. Bagnaia, to whom second place seemed promised a few laps from the finish, made another mistake a few moments later, leading to the fall – then to the retirement of the Italian. “The only subject of the day is that I lost 25 or 20 points”, lamented the Italian, 7th in the championship at 46 points from Quartararo and “pissed off”. “I now have a few days to think about it, to try to understand, to try to improve because I can’t win the championship with these mistakes, maybe it’s time to be more mature too” , he continued, ahead of “his” Italian GP at the end of May.
Under the heat and the sun – the expected rain did not ultimately play the spoilsport – Bastianini was well ahead of Jack Miller and Aleix Espargaro at the finish. Starting 4th, Fabio Quartararo, reigning world champion, quickly fell to 8th position before finding himself in the fight for the podium with his rival in the general classification, without managing to take the upper hand. “All the overtaking I’ve done is because drivers made mistakes in front. […] my real position is not fourth, it is much further back,” he said. The Frenchman owes his salvation above all to the retirements of the Suzukis of Spaniards Alex Rins and Joan Mir, before that of Bagnaia.
For his part, Espargaro explained that he had “a super difficult race, the most difficult of the season so far”. “I knew Fabio was behind me but I knew it was hard for him to pass me […], the race was about not making mistakes. “Words confirmed by the world champion: “We were very fast but we knew that it was not possible to overtake. I’m not happy with my race. »
Carried by the clamor of more than 110,000 spectators, the other Frenchman in the event, Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac), ranked 5th after having notably overtaken the six-time Spanish MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez (Honda). “I was incisive enough to both keep my place and try to overtake […], so I’m happy with the fight that way but also with the pace of the race,” said the Frenchman. , 6th in the championship, at the end of the race. Sixth in qualifying on Saturday, the Cannois started ninth on the grid due to a three-place penalty received for “irresponsible” behavior. In Moto2, the Spaniard Augusto Fernandez (KTM Ajo) signed his first victory of the season, far ahead of the Italian Celestino Vietti (VR46), 8th but who remains at the top of the championship. In Moto3, the Spaniard Jaume Masia (KTM Ajo) won a race interrupted on the first lap by the rain. The championship leader, Sergio Garcia (Gasgas), 7th at the end of the event, retains his rank in the general classification, ahead of his new runner-up Masia.