#FrenchGP
The fifth round of the 2023 MotoGP season at the Le Mans circuit, in France, sees our Suomy rider Pecco Bagnaia once again on the podium of the Sprint Race on Saturday, in which he manages to conquer the third place after overtaking a fierce Marc Márquez with four laps to go.
On the other hand, the result on Sunday was not as positive, characterized by a particularly unfortunate race epilogue.
First on the starting grid, on the third lap Pecco finds himself occupying fifth position, when he is overtaken by Viñales. However, in an attempt to overtake the Spanish rider, the two riders come into contact with each other causing both to crash and forcing them to retire.
However, the podium conquered in Saturday’s race allows our Suomy rider Pecco Bagnaia to remain at the top of the championship standings one point ahead of French Grand Prix winner Marco Bezzecchi.
“It was an unfortunate circumstance, a race incident that perhaps we could have avoided if Maverick had closed his line less and I had left more room to enter, but in any case, these are things that can happen. We met with the stewards, which was a positive meeting that will allow us to improve in the future. Today we were fast, and at that moment, I was waiting for the right moment to attack and then push, but unfortunately, it went like that, and I am sorry. Now we have three weeks before the next race in Mugello, a crucial appointment on a circuit where we won a beautiful GP last year.”
Francesco Bagnaia – NC
World Standings P. 1
MOTO3
In Moto3 our Suomy rider Romano Fenati would also have hoped for a different race ending: author of a good start at the Le Mans circuit, Romano immediately positions himself in the leading group.
Unfortunately, however, on the third lap he comes into contact with another rider and is forced to lose positions and finish the race in nineteenth place.
“Unfortunately with two contacts in the race I couldn’t do any better than that. With the first one I lost a couple of positions, the second one sent me right into the last chicane so I lost several positions, recovering was difficult.”
Romano Fenati – 19th
World Standings P. 19
MOTOE
The first race of the MotoE class of the 2023 world championship is also held at Le Mans circuit, where our Suomy rider Matteo Ferrari scores his first victory of the season.
After a difficult start complicated by a crash in race 1 while fighting for first place, Matteo immediately redeems himself by managing to conquer the top step of the podium in race 2, despite a long lap to be observed.
“It was a bittersweet day, because I made a mistake in race one and on top of the crash, I also received a long-lap penalty. I would like to thank the team from my heart, as they worked really hard between the two races in order to make sure I could be competitive in the second encounter. I gave all I had, and this is also Gresini Racing’s 200th podium, which makes the result even more special. The race went really well: I tried to push from the get-go even though I knew I couldn’t afford any mistake. I did the long-lap penalty the perfect way and in the end, I had what it took to win. I’m really happy and I cannot wait to go to Mugello!”
Matteo Ferrari – Race 1 – NC; Race 2 – 1°
World Standings P. 3
Next Round:
Grand Prix of Italy
10 June – 11 June
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #SuomyCrew during the weekend in France.