Martin beats Marquez, Bagnaia in French MotoGP classic

The Ducati riders were nose-to-tail into the 27th and final lap at Le Mans, before Marquez jammed his Gresini Racing entry down the inside of #1 at Chemin aux Boeufs (Turn 9) to seize second place.

The Ducati Team’s Enea Bastianini finished fourth after a late move on Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales, with Brad Binder first of the KTMs in eighth but Jack Miller crashing out on his RC16.

For Pramac Racing’s Martin, his championship lead grows to 38 points after he had also won the Sprint on the afternoon prior, while Bagnaia at least moved up to second in the standings.

The sky was grey for race start, and riders had practiced bike swaps during the morning Warm Up session, but the Bugatti Circuit was dry.

When the lights went out, Bagnaia (Ducati Team) got the launch and was able to emerge from the Turn 3/Turn 4 chicane with the lead after Martin could not make an under-brakes move stick.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) took up third, from Fabio Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), Viñales, and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3), with Marquez up to eighth from 13th on the grid, Miller (Red Bull KTM) holding 11th, and Binder (Red Bull KTM) vaulting from last to 13th in the opening corners.

Acosta went under Viñales for fifth at La Chapelle (Turn 6) on Lap 2 but when he tried to overtake Di Giannantonio a lap later at Garage Vert (Turn 8), he went down and barely missed taking out both the #49 Ducati and the #41 Aprilia of Espargaro in front.

Marquez thus inherited sixth having not long passed Bastianini, before 2023 French GP winner Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) crashed out of seventh at La Chapelle on Lap 4.

Marquez got inside of Viñales as they sped through Turn 1 on Lap 7 but ‘Top Gun’ held him off when they arrived at the chicane.

Meanwhile, Martin was tailing Bagnaia at the front of the field, and Binder was in the top 10 having overtaken KTM team-mate Miller.

Espargaro ran wide at Turn 1 on Lap 8, inviting a move from Di Giannantonio when they reached La Chapelle, but the Italian ran wide himself and could not complete the pass.

Di Giannantonio did get the move for third place done two-and-a-half laps later at Garage Vert, as Martin circulated almost a second up the road.

Espargaro lost two more spots on Lap 11, running wide at Garage Vert to let team-mate Viñales through, then being picked off by Marquez for fifth into Chemin aux Boeufs.

On Lap 12, Espargaro had Bastianini coming down his inside into Chemin aux Boeufs, prompting him to sit up, tour the slip road, and thus drop from sixth to eighth, behind the #23 Ducati and the Monster Energy Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo.

However, Bastianini cut the Turn 10 right-hander too, and he would be slapped with a Long Lap Penalty.

Marquez helped himself to fourth spot when Viñales ran wide at Garage Vert on Lap 14, while Quartararo and Espargaro were trading sixth position amongst themselves.

The six-time champion then attacked Di Giannantonio at the Turn 3/Turn 4 chicane on Lap 17 and while the VR46 pilot kept him at bay, the deficit to Martin grew beyond two seconds.

Quartararo crashed at Chemin aux Boeufs on Lap 17 before Marquez completed the pass on Di Giannantonio at Turn 1 on Lap 18, the latter also ceding fourth to Viñales when he ran wide in trying to fight back at the Turn 3/Turn 4 chicane.

As that was going on, Miller, who had just dropped back to 12th, crashed out altogether.

Martin had kept Bagnaia within striking distance and strike he did at Turn 3 on Lap 20, but the two-time champion reclaimed the lead on the cutback.

Exactly one lap later, the ‘Martinator’ did complete the pass for first place, and just as well considering Marquez had caught them.

Bagnaia could barely stick with Martin once #89 found that clear air, and had #93 right behind him.

However, when Martin ran wide at Turn 3 on Lap 25, Bagnaia had a big look at La Chapelle, but found there was not quite enough room to force a pass.

It was still a three-way battle on the final lap when Marquez dived down the inside Bagnaia at Chemin aux Boeufs, taking second place as Martin skipped clear.

Bastianini had got by Viñales on Lap 26 to make for an all-Ducati top four, with Di Giannantonio sixth after serving a Long Lap Penalty for a shortcut in the final 10 laps.

Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati) got up to seventh in the end, from Binder, Espargaro, and Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) in 10th, then Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia), Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GasGas Tech3), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), and Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha) rounding out the points finishers.

Luca Marini (Repsol Honda) was the only non-points finisher, in 16th, with six DNFs in total.

Round 6 is the Catalan MotoGP at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on May 24-26.

Race results: Grand Prix race

Race winner: 27 laps

Riders’ championship