Perfect Martín! MotoGP championship leader wins the VC of France ahead of Márquez and Bagnaia after a thrilling battle

Jorge Martín dominated the French Grand Prix at the famous Le Mans circuit after winning the qualifying and sprint races. The Spaniard took full points from the fifth MotoGP round and extended his lead in the riders’ championship table over Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia and Marc Márquez. This trio offered the record attendance a thrilling spectacle for the win, which resulted in Martín’s triumph and Márquez’s fantastic comeback from thirteenth on the grid to finish second thanks to a last lap manoeuvre on Bagnaio.

For its fifth stop of the season, the MotoGP series stopped at another legendary circuit after Jerez in Spain, this time the one near Le Mans in France. Last year’s event, the 1000th event in the history of the MotoGP, was held here and was dominated by Marco Bezzecchi.

Although the Italian qualified relatively well, he crashed out of second position in the sprint. The championship leader Jorge Martín, who dominated Saturday’s race after gaining pole position, went on to claim his biggest success to date.

The man of the sprint, however, was undoubtedly Marc Márquez. After starting from thirteenth position, the eight-time champion masterfully flew through the field and finished the short race in second place. On the other hand, Pecco Bagnaia again did not take any points from the sprint after technical difficulties.

Although Jerez enjoyed an all-time record attendance two weeks ago, erroneous totals by the Spanish organisers ultimately helped to produce a different success. Nearly 300,000 fans attended this year’s VC of France across the weekend. The official MotoGP twitter account even assured everyone that they were careful with the numbers this time around.

Bagnaia and Martín locked up the lead, unlucky for Acosta

The front row of the grid was occupied by the only winners of all the races so far. Jorge Martín drove away to his first triple success of the year from pole position ahead of Bagnaia and Viñales.

Compared to the sprint, Bagnaia took the piss out of his rivals and took the lead into the first chicane of the circuit without any trouble. Martín followed ahead of Aleix Espargar and Fabio Di Giannantonio, with Viñales circling as high as fifth after the opening lap.

A partial repeat of Saturday’s sprint was completed by Márquez, who again moved up several positions. For once, however, he had to settle for eighth place.

MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta also got off to a good start. The 19-year-old phenom showed a solid pace during the practice sessions, which he confirmed with a successful manoeuvre on Viñales. At the same time, Acosta quickly nailed his fastest lap and launched a brisk pursuit of the duo of Di Giannantonio and Espargar.

While the aforementioned duo catfished between them, the Spanish teenager on the GasGas machine was sneakily eyeing the podium. However, his dream of another trophy this year was dashed on lap three. Acosta crashed while attempting a manoeuvre on Di Giannantonio into turn seven and surprisingly didn’t take someone else down with him.

Thanks to these and other struggles, the leading duo of Bagnaia and Martín had carved out a small lead. Acosta was joined in the elimination club by Bezzecchi, whose crash on the following lap meant zero points for the Italian at the French Grand Prix.

Long laps galore, Marc closing in

Although Martín held on valiantly to leader Bagnaia, the championship leader has so far found no loophole to get past the reigning world champion. Meanwhile, Márquez was climbing up, looking to find a way past Aprilia Viñales. Bagnai’s relatively conservative pace at the front did not particularly tear up the field, signalling hope for Márquez, for example, and his chances of another podium finish.

Di Giannantonio and Espargaro continued to jostle for the lead pair’s position, so much so that both the Italian and the Spaniard produced mistakes of their own. In doing so, they not only lost precious tenths, but also inadvertently drew Viñales and Márquez together, who surged to the front of the chase group around the halfway point of the race. At the front, however, Bagnaia continued to hold on tooth and nail to Martín, who despite minor mistakes had a slightly more promising pace for the final victory.

Entering the second part of the grand prix, the situation at the front had relatively calmed down. However, the midfield battles did not subside, leading Álex Rins and Eney Bastianini to cut the chicane short at turns nine and ten. The pair received long lap penalties from race directors for this identical offence. In these moments, Márquez climbed ahead of both Viñales and Di Giannattonio, and from his newly acquired third place he began to chase down Bagnaiu and Martín.

The unfortunate evergreen continued with 2020 season champion Joan Mir, who again threw his factory Honda away during the race. However, perhaps even more unfortunate was Fabio Quartararo, who crashed in front of the home fans. The French Yamaha rider threw away a promising race in which he could have hoped for a solid points haul. Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira also failed to take points from Le Mans.

The trio of top title contenders in the direct battle for victory

Sixteen drivers continued the race, which was still led by Bagnaia, but Martín and Márquez were ominously preparing for a final assault. While Martín was gradually preparing his foray into the leader’s position, Márquez was gaining on them by leaps and bounds. The Pramac Ducati rider made his first direct move on the two-time MotoGP champion with eight laps to go, but Bagnaia was not to be dissuaded. The clash allowed Márquez to hook the rear wheel of Martín for good.

A lap later, however, Bagnaia had to relinquish the top spot as Martín, unlike the previous lap, watched his charge into the opening chicane and didn’t let the Italian get ahead again. The Spaniard quickly built up a small lead and Bagnaia now had to concentrate on the onrushing Márquez. Martín himself, however, did not make things any easier for himself with small misses, giving the spectators an adrenaline-fuelled spectacle of a victory between almost certainly the main world title contenders.

Bagnaia did not take advantage of Martín’s mistakes and as Márquez slowed slightly on the penultimate lap, the podium positions seemed to be decided. But the moment Bastianini snatched fourth from Viñales, Márquez attacked Bagnaia hard, but successfully, on the final lap a few corners before the chequered flag.

Bagnaia found no answer in such a short time frame and crossed the line third behind the victorious Martín and Márquez. Martín also dominated the main race of the French VC after gaining pole position and a sprint triumph. Bastianini and Viñales rounded out the top five positions. Brad Binder also made a respectable comeback, finishing the race in eighth place after a botched qualifying session and starting from last position.

Thanks to his perfect performance at Le Mans, Martín has once again extended his lead at the head of the championship ahead of Bagnaia and already third-placed Márquez.

MotoGP French Grand Prix results (race 5/21, 27 laps = 112.995 km; top 10 only):

1. Jorge Martín (Sp., Ducati) 41:23.709
2. Marc Márquez (Span., Ducati) +0.446
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) +0.585
4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) +2.206
5. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) +4.053
6. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) +9.480
7. Franco Morbidelli (Ita., Ducati) +9.868
8. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +10.686
9. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) +11.392
10. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) +13.442

2024 MotoGP rider standings (after 5/21; top 10 only):

1. Jorge Martín (Spaniard, Ducati) 129 points
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 91
3. Marc Márquez (Spa., Ducati) 89
4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) 89
5. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 81
6. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) 73
7. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 67
8. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) 51
9. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) 47
10. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) 36

Sources: MotoGP, X