Dre’s 2015 MotoGP French Grand Prix Review

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Read time: 4 mins

“Jorge Lorenzo really is back.”

Well, shit. Round 5 of the MotoGP Championship hit Le Mans this week for the French Grand Prix, and Jorge Lorenzo showed the field what’s what with another dominant performance, led from start to finish, with Valentino Rossi keeping track in 2nd, and Andrea Dovizioso on the podium again for Ducati. On top of that, we had the return of Thomas Luthi on the podium in Moto2, and Romano Fenati winning in Moto3, but Danny Kent taking yet more headlines. All that and more, as I review Le Mans… On bikes!


[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” style=”bottomshadow” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”
” align=”left” animation_type=”fade” animation_direction=”right” animation_speed=”1″]CFIx_I6W8AACtdW[/fusion_imageframe]Jorge Lorenzo dominates, Marquez scraps

The one thing I was hoping – Jorge Lorenzo to NOT take the holeshot. He did, and then eventually would suck the life out of the GP and go on to win again, this time by 3.8 seconds over Valentino Rossi, who cleared the Ducati’s into 3rd and 5th respectively, with a struggling Marc Marquez getting into an all-time cataclysmic tussle with Andrea Iannone who fell back in the 2nd half of the race.

Someone should have strapped a GoPro on the front of Bradley Smith’s bike and have him film the footage. Imagine the YouTube money! But seriously, go find that scrap, it’s worth a 2 point bonus to the entire race rating alone and it was magnificent to watch as they ripped each other a new one… for 4th!

A boring main event, but MAN the midfield brought the hammer. Also, a scary amount of fallers with Redding, Crutchlow, Bradl, Miller, Abraham, and Aleix Espargaro hitting the deck.

Props to Jorge Lorenzo too, his 56th GP win takes him into 5th on the all-time wins list, ahead of 5-time Champion Mick Doohan, a special accomplishment from one of the sport’s all-time consistent greats.

[fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” style=”bottomshadow” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”
” align=”left” animation_type=”fade” animation_direction=”right” animation_speed=”1″]CFND2UXUsAIBIaq[/fusion_imageframe]Moto2 – Luthi, The Swiss Watch of The Class

Look out, Thomas Luthi’s cracked the Kalex code! A textbook performance from Luthi, as I’m desperate to avoid any cliched Swiss accuracy references. A performance where he took care of Zarco in the early going and never looked back, breaking the lap record in the process en route to a two-second victory in dominant fashion.

Tito Rabat pulled off his best performance of the season in 2nd, the reigning Champion finally seeming to get to grips with that 2015 Kalex chassis, winning the better of a narrow exchange with Johann Zarco in third, who was consistent but fell behind towards the end.

Sam Lowes was 4th, but showed frustration in the post race interview with BT Sport’s Gavin Emmett for choosing the wrong, softer compound tyre, losing too much time in the early going to the leading four.

In the midfield a great scrap as Franco Morbidelli resumed his tradition in [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_tooltip title=”The FOURTH time he’s finished 5th in 5 races.” placement=”top” trigger=”hover” class=”” id=””]finishing 5th[/fusion_tooltip], ahead of Julian Simon and a resurgent Taka Nakagami. A bad day for the Pons bikes as Alex Rins blew his pole position with an awful start falling to 9th, clawing back to 5th, then dropping the bike in the first chicane to finish in 17th place. His team mate didn’t fair much better, with Luis Salom deciding to hump the back of Frankie’s Italtrans back… and because of the airbag going off in the middle of his hissy fit (Not the first time that’s happened), he looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. This was the highlight of the race, sadly.

[fusion_imageframe lightbox=”no” style=”bottomshadow” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” stylecolor=”
” align=”left” animation_type=”fade” animation_direction=”right” animation_speed=”1″]CFMtvMXWIAMKlHS[/fusion_imageframe]Fenati wins, but Kent and Bastianini steals the show

Welcome back, Romano Fenati. It’s like I was watching a 2014 race meeting with him and Luthi winning! A brilliant performance from the Top 4 in general. Fenati controlled the race from start to finish. Enea Bastianini gained 17 places to finish in 2nd yet again this season, Francesco Bagnaia stuck to his old team by getting his first Moto3 podium in 3rd, the highest finish so far this season for Mahindra.

Danny Kent was phenomenal in coming from 31st on the grid after a rain affected qualifying session, to finish in 4th, picking off the entire field, and taking advantage of multiple fallers like his teammate Efren Vazquez, Brad Binder and hometown hero Fabio Quartararo, who was in the leading pack himself when he hit the deck, after qualifying from pole.

So another brilliant performance from Danny Kent who’s looking borderline invincible at the moment, and now carries a 37 point lead from Enea Bastianini in 2nd, and Efren Vazquez still 3rd with 60.


PS: Can someone PLEASE muzzle Keith Huewen?! There is more to Moto3 than Danny Kent and taking pot shots at Formula 1 doesn’t make your broadcast any better. Seriously, can we all stop comparing your sport to F1? I expected this from the World Endurance Championship!

MotoGP – 6/10, Moto2 – 5/10 – Moto3 – 9/10[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

About the Author:

Dre Harrison

Somehow can now call himself a Production Coordinator at the Motorsport Network, coming off the back of being part of the awkward Johto Era at WTF1. All off a University Project that went massively out of hand. Weird huh?

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