MotoGP Grand Prix of France 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo secured his first win of the MotoGP season since Week 1, as he dominated the French Grand Prix on Sunday at the iconic Le Mans circuit. 

The Yamaha man was a class apart on the day, racing clear from pole position and never looking in danger of being overhauled. His team-mate Valentino Rossi recovered from seventh on the grid to take second, while Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales took a surprise third place.

Championship leader Marc Marquez could only muster a 13th-place finish after he crashed midway through the race in a bizarre incident involving Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso; the pair, less than a second apart, both lost balance at the same point in the race without touching one another.

Here are the full race results and standings following the French Grand Prix:

Pos.	Points	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	25	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	43'51.290
2	20	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+10.654
3	16	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+14.177
4	13	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+18.719
5	11	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+24.931
6	10	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+32.921
7	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	OCTO Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati	+38.251
8	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	+38.504
9	7	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	+48.536
10	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	+54.502
11	5	Eugene LAVERTY	IRL	Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	+1'02.677
12	4	Loris BAZ	FRA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	+1'07.658
13	3	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1 Lap
NC		Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	9 Laps
NC		Jack MILLER	AUS	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	11 Laps
NC		Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	13 Laps
NC		Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	17 Laps
NC		Tito RABAT	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	21 Laps
NC		Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	22 Laps
NC		Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	22 Laps
NC		Scott REDDING	GBR	OCTO Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati	23 Laps

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	90
2	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	85
3	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	78
4	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	53
5	Maverick VIÑALES	Suzuki	SPA	49
6	Pol ESPARGARO	Yamaha	SPA	47
7	Aleix ESPARGARO	Suzuki	SPA	42
8	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	39
9	Eugene LAVERTY	Ducati	IRL	33
10	Andrea IANNONE	Ducati	ITA	25
11	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	23
12	Stefan BRADL	Aprilia	GER	23
13	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Aprilia	SPA	21
14	Bradley SMITH	Yamaha	GBR	20
15	Scott REDDING	Ducati	GBR	16
16	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	12
17	Tito RABAT	Honda	SPA	11
18	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	9
19	Loris BAZ	Ducati	FRA	8
20	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	5
21	Yonny HERNANDEZ	Ducati	COL	3
22	Jack MILLER	Honda	AUS	2

Race Recap

After shining in qualifying on Saturday, Lorenzo got off to a tremendous start, leaving Marquez to battle it out with the Ducati pairing of Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone.

Indeed, Honda man Marquez was dropped from second to fifth in no time, and he was suddenly being hunted down by Rossi on the Yamaha.

As we can see here courtesy of the MotoGP Twitter feed, Rossi did superbly to negotiate some heavy traffic at the start line:

The Yamaha man and Marquez were feeding off one another and soon in close quarters to the Ducatis. But such intense racing seemed to be too much for Iannone, who lost control from second spot, spinning off the track at Turn 8 when seemingly under no pressure.

BT Sport MotoGP pundit Keith Huewen stated this error could prove to be a very costly one for the Italian:

Not only did it push the rider way back down the field, space was suddenly freed up for Rossi and Marquez, as they went about closing the gap on Dovizioso, now the sole Ducati in the top three.

While there was chaos behind him, Lorenzo steadily increased his lead at the front of the field, building a five-second gap between himself and the chasers as the halfway point came into view.

It meant the action continued to be between the men looking for minor places on the podium, and the veteran Rossi nipped past Marquez to move into third and then ousted his compatriot Dovizioso just seconds later.

JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/Getty Images

They were moves that brought the French crowd to its feet, with only open road separating a rampant Rossi from his team-mate. The VR|46 Vanguard INA account summed up what had been an eventful race so far for the former champion:

Remarkably, things were about about to get even more dramatic in the scrap for a podium spot. That’s after Marquez and Dovizioso both crashed out of the race after a gripping battle, but without actually touching one another.

In a remarkable sequence on the 15th lap, the two riders both lost the front end and slid off into the gravel despite there being clear daylight between them. Here is a look at the peculiar incident, per BT Sport MotoGP:

Marquez rejoined the race, but it was too much of a gap for him to make up in the latter stages. The double crash also promoted Vinales up into third spot on his Suzuki, although Dani Pedrosa was hunting him down sharpish on his Honda.

Up front, as much as Rossi pushed in the second half of the race, Lorenzo had simply built up too much of a lead to be threatened. It meant the reigning world champion was able to enjoy the latter stages of the race and the 25 points that push him back to the summit of the overall standings.

Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images

Marquez, who eventually came home in 13th, now trails his compatriot by five points overall, while Vinales eventually did very well to fight off Pedrosa for third. MotoGP journalist Scherazade M. S. suggested that’d be cause for celebration for the Suzuki team:

Here is a listen to what the race winner had to say in the aftermath of the contest:

This was a much-needed win for Lorenzo after struggling for his very best so far this season. The manner in which he dominated on the day will be of great satisfaction to him, not to mention the problems Marquez, who has shown greater consistency this term, ran into on Sunday.

Rossi did about as well as he could have and will lament another poor qualifying session. He showed the pace to trouble Lorenzo at Le Mans and looking ahead to Mugello next time out, it’s imperative he puts himself in a better position on Sunday to show that speed.