Pedrosa storms to Championship Lead

Dani Pedrosa made it back-to-back victories after a masterful performance in wet conditions at Le Mans today, a performance that sees the Honda rider move to the top of the MotoGP rider standings. With rain falling at the start of the race, it was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso who got the holeshot to lead into the first corner ahead of Pedrosa, the two riders swapping the lead a few times before Pedrosa made his race-winning pass on lap fourteen. Once in the lead Pedrosa held his position at the front to win the race by 4.863 seconds – his first MotoGP victory in France. In second place was Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, the British rider overcoming the pain of a leg injury to claim his highest ever placing in MotoGP ahead of Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, who made a great comeback after a slow start to take the final podium position. First of the CRT riders across the finish line was Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro in thirteenth place. Cool and wet conditions greeted the grid for the French Grand Prix, with a track temperature of just 14°C recorded at the start of the twenty-eight lap race. The changing conditions caught out many riders including Yamaha returnee Valentino Rossi who crashed his bike on lap 18 to ultimately finish 12th. Pedrosa now leads his Repsol Honda teammate Marquez in the MotoGP championshop standings by six points, while a further nine points back and third in the standings is Yamaha’s reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo. Rossi is yet to replicate his opening round form that saw him finish second in the season-opener in Qatar and the Italian lies in fifth place in the rider standings. The second place finish is his sole podium of the season so far while Lorenzo and Pedrosa have three to their name. Marquez is the only MotoGP rider, so far, who has finished on the podium in all four races so far. The French round also saw Mahindra Racing achieve its highest ever qualifying position since it started to compete in the Moto3 category. Miquel Olivera (pictured above) put Mahindra’s MGP3O second on the starting grid and ran as high as fifth until a crash on the fifth lap forced him to retire.