Dani Pedrosa finally won the French MotoGP at his eighth attempt on Sunday. When Pedrosa reached the premier-class in 2006, he had won the three previous Le Mans races as a 125 and then 250cc rider.
The drought came to an end during an action-packed wet race, which saw Pedrosa battle Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso for the first half of the grand prix before escaping to his 24th victory in the premier-class.
Cal Crutchlow (pictured right) overcame a bad fall in qualifying to achieve his best ever result as a MotoGP rider with second place, after holding off a charging Marc Marquez for the last few laps of the race.
Crutchlow had suffered a small fracture to his right shin in the accident on Saturday that also left him coughing blood on the side of the racetrack.
“I have a small crack in the top of the shin bone, so when I walk it hurts but on the bike it’s not so bad and when the adrenaline is going it’s no problem,” said Crutchlow.
“I was more concerned for the chest and stomach because I coughed a lot of blood yesterday and also I had a big nose bleed.
“So I’m thankful to the circuit for the red flag (after the fall) because I was lying on the floor with blood in the helmet and I didn’t know what the situation was, so I stayed on the floor.” Crutchlow then claimed fourth on the grid just an hour later in the dry qualifying session.
The wet race on Sunday meant that the pace wasn’t as high and stress on his injuries was kept to a minimum, giving him a chance to make amends for last year’s accident in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team’s home race.
“ I knew if it was a wet race I could try and make amends for last year, when the same three of us me, Valentino (Rossi) and Dovi – were battling in the same wet conditions.”
Crutchlow overtook factory Yamaha star Rossi for third place at around the halfway mark of the 28 laps, then passed his old team mate Dovizioso’s Ducati for second with five laps to go just as Marc Marquez was closing in.
“Last year I crashed out of the battle. We were in those same positions again and I was thinking ‘just stay on board and stay smooth’. I knew I wanted to bide my time, but I was very conscious I had the gap to Marc from behind. I knew he was coming.
“It’s definitely nice to beat those guys. They are world class. I think in these condition we proved we can fight very well. And the bike is working good. In the dry and wet I’m happy with the bike. This is a great reward for the team at their home grand prix.”
Crutchlow’s podium strengthens his position as the top satellite rider and moves him to fourth in the world championship standings, ahead of Rossi.
Pol Espargaro, the rider linked with Crutchlow’s seat for 2014, finished 20th after a fall in the Moto2 race. Jorge Lorenzo had a disastrous race, falling from second to ninth before mistakes by his Yamaha team-mate Rossi and LCR’s Stefan Bradl got him back to seventh. Lorenzo felt he had a problem with his rear tyre throughout the race.
Sources:http://www.thenewsonline.es
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