MotoGP Round 5 Recap: Battle of the Yamaha's

MotoGP Round 5 Recap: Battle of the Yamaha's

The French Grand Prix at Le Mans, Viñales bags another win, Zarco sees his first podium and the standings get shaken up.

After a genuinely exciting display in practice and qualifying this weekend combined with ideal weather conditions and track temperatures, the fifth round of the 2017 premier class season was pretty much guaranteed to be a damn good one. The young French, MotoGP rookie who has garnered so much attention this season managed to make it onto the front row of the grid from the third starting position next to Rossi and VInales who clinched pole. With so many riders this season already having made their way onto the podium it’s more clear than ever that a highly competitive grid means any of this season’s races are anybody’s to win.

The Race

When the lights went out the all-Yamaha front row all got a decent start. I hesitate to say any one rider got the holeshot as Marquez got into the mix and within a few turns Zarco, who was definitely pushing his bike’s limits had gotten out in front of Vinales, followed by Marquez. Rossi would manage to steal third back from Marquez as Alvaro Bautista would crash out on turn seven of the race’s first lap. Behind Marquez was Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso and then Dani Pedrosa who has been having a solid start to the 2017 season.

At the end of the first lap Zarco was still out in front and had gained a lead over Vinales, leading his first-ever home GP in the premier class, much to the delight of the French audience. Another lap would be completed without any positions changing, Zarco was still winning without any threat approaching his rear-wheel to threaten the Frenchman with an overtake. Then another, and another.

With 24 laps remaining Zarco still lead ahead of Vinales and Rossi on the Movistar Yamahas, followed by Marquez, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Scott Redding, Jack Miller and finally Jorge Lorenzo making up the top ten at this point. Though Lorenzo seemed to have a tough time in qualifying and had already moved up several places by this point in the race, he nonetheless seems to have taken a step backwards since his previous performance which landed him on the podium for the first time on the Ducati.

Karl Abraham and Hector Barbera both retired from the race around this time and returned to the pits, Abraham had been having a great race weekend leading up to this so his retirement must have been that much more upsetting for the #17 rider. Scott Redding who also had been having a solid weekend suffered a technical issue and was forced to bow out of the race from a top ten position on the next lap.

With twenty-two laps remaining Vinales had closed up on Zarco and gotten into position to strike early in the lap. On turns one and turn Vinales steadily creeped up to Zarco’s rear-wheel before making his pass at turn three. It would stick beautifully and was a textbook clean pass. Zarco was now sandwiched between the blue Factory #25 and #46 Yamahas, somewhere you seriously don’t want to be. A seemingly more calculating Zarco opted to hold onto his second place position rather than risking a podium trying to retaliate. Vinales was able to capitalize on this and put some space between him and the Frenchman behind him.

Lorenzo managed to move up to ninth. Pedrosa would find a way to pass Dovi to take fifth. Crutchlow would then run wide from Pedrosa making contact with his bike, allowing Dani and Dovi to pass him on the same turn, dropping the Englishman into seventh, a few seconds ahead of his buddy; Miller, who suffered a violent crash yesterday though not so violent he couldn’t compete today though I’d imagine Le Mans was a sore race for the Marc VDS Honda pilot. The doctor would then run wide, giving Marquez an opportunity to close up on him. Sixteen laps to go…

Lorenzo would perform his fifth overtake of the day, landing in eighth-place behind Zarco. Two more laps are completed with no changes in position. Pedrosa did however close the gap on his fellow Repsol Honda, preparing for an attack. Having started today’s race from the fifth row and now in fifth-place, the #26 rider was demonstrating his exquisite race-craft.

With eleven-laps to go, Marquez would lose the front end and crash out at the top of the hill between turns two and three, costing him valuable points in the championship. Marquez would instantly pop-up after tumbling through the gravel, picking up his Honda and trying to rejoin the French GP. Teams would change their pit boards to inform their riders that the #93 Repsol bike was no longer in the mix, meaning the potential threat that may sneak up from behind them is no longer. (Marquez was unable to get his bike started back up and was forced to retire). Daniel Petrucci would be forced to retire as well adding one more satellite Ducati to the list of today’s DNF’s.

With eight laps to go Crutchlow had gotten into position to make a move on the #04 Factory Ducati of Dovizioso. Cal would see his chance and take it, finding a route up the inside of his old teammate from his Ducati years. The top ten were now (in order) Vinales, Zarco, Rossi, Pedrosa, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Miller, Aleix Espargaro and then Jonas Folger. Vinales would continue to to set increasingly faster quickest lap times, enabling the gap between him and Zarco to stretch-out more and more. Rossi at this point was close enough to the Tech-3 Yamaha that if he really put the hammer down and took a risk or two he probably had it in him to overtake the French rookie, but seeing as how he came into this race leading the championship by two points, playing it safe and bagging whatever points he could appeared to be his admittedly sensible preference. Pedrosa for whatever reason wasn’t able to keep up with the riders who started the race from the front row (Vinales, Rossi, Zarco) and a gap between the Repsol and the #46 Yamaha grew.

With seven laps remaining Rossi found himself getting closer and closer to Zarco until he looked to be within striking range by the start of the next lap. Between turns two and three Rossi slipped up the inside of the Tech-3 Yamaha, demonstrating his proven ability to use a chicane as a clean-overtake opportunity. A very pleased Movistar Yamaha garage now enjoyed watching both its riders leading the race with roughly fifteen-miles of race (six laps) remaining.

Aleix Espargaro who had steadily been moving up the field appeared to blow the V4-engine on his Factory Aprilia retiring him from the race. With four laps to go Rossi who had been clocking better times than his teammate found himself in near-striking-range, begging the question: Will the doctor try to pass the #25 bike and win the GP or will he be content with second place? This question would right away be answered. With three laps to go Rossi would use the same location where he passed Zarco to slip up the inside of Vinales, forcing Vinales to run wide in order to avoid making contact with the #46 bike. The sea of yellow-flags that is Rossi’s fan section went ballistic.

Another lap would be completed with Rossi in the lead. Vinales wasn’t losing ground on the doctor, but he still wasn’t quite within striking-distance, though he looked to be pushing his M1 on the bike’s increasingly-worn tires. Only one more lap remained before the checkered flag.

Rossi started the lap with a healthy lead on Vinales who would run off the track but ultimately without losing ground on Rossi. Turn after turn and Vinales wasn’t making the necessary headway on the nine-time world-champion in order to overtake him for the race win. Valentino would then make a critical mistake while attempting to defend his lead, braking too late and entering a corner too hot and too wide. Vinales saw his opportunity and grabbed hold of it, happily running up the inside of his fellow-Movistar Yamaha pilot. With less than a mile two go, Rossi who is known for immediately striking back would make a second pivotal mistake on the final lap, losing the front end and sending him and the M1 sliding into the gravel-trap. Vinales would set his fastest lap of the race on his final go-around of the iconic 2.6 mile Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans, winning yet another premier class race.

Behind the #25 Yamaha, Zarco would go on to take second place at his first ever home-GP in the premier class ahead of Pedrosa who has started the race from the fifth row and still manage to wind up on the podium. Dovizioso would finish in fourth in front of Crutchlow, Lorenzo, Folger, Miller, Loris Baz and then Andrea Iannone rounding out the top ten. In eleventh was Tito Rabat, followed by Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith, Sam Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli who would finish in last, only ahead of the six riders who would go home with DNF’s.

As predicted from the start of the race, today’s GP reminded us what world-class motorcycle racing is all about, the drama and excitement of everything changing in an instant was in full effect from the green lights to the checkered flag. Rossi who went into the race leading in the standings by two points is understandably frustrated with crashing out and throwing away valuable points. Though he may have been trying to strike back at Vinales, based on Vinales setting his fastest lap on the final twenty-eighth lap, there’s a good chance that Rossi was simply trying to keep pace with his teammate, resulting in him getting back on the throttle a little too soon which resulted in losing the rear-wheel.

The doctor will get a shot at redemption at his home-race at Mugello is in two weeks. If there was one race Zarco wanted to succeed in, it was without a doubt Le Mans. KTM has made some noticeable headway this round, seeing their riders qualify closer towards the middle of the grid for the first time this season. After a less exciting race at Jerez, it’s always nice to get a reminder as to why so many love MotoGP. It is still early enough in the season that anyone may be crowned the 2017 champion at this point but it’s looking increasingly likely that we might see a new world champion crowned by the checkered flag at Valencia, (The final race of the season).

Sylvain Guintoli was returning to MotoGP, in place of injured rookie Alex Rins at Suzuki. The Le Mans circuit had been resurfaced for 2017…

1. Maverick Viñales ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 43m 29.793s
2. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 43m 32.927s
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 43m 37.510s
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 43m 41.016s
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 43m 43.312s
6. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 43m 53.795s
7. Jonas Folger GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 43m 55.526s
8. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 44m 2.396s
9. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15) 44m 15.577s
10. Andrea Iannone ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 18.125s
11. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 44m 19.829s
12. Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 44m 22.454s
13. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 44m 22.972s
14. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 44m 25.225s
15. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 36.671s
    Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) DNF
    Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF
    Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) DNF
    Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP17) DNF
    Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP16) DNF
    Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP15) DNF
    Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP16) DNF
    Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP16) DNF