MotoGP

The Ajo KTM squad enjoyed double delight at the MotoGP French Grand Prix, as Jaume Masia and Augusto Fernandez took the spoils in the Moto3 and Moto2 races.

Due to the rain, the race was red-flagged and restarted over 14 laps. After an intense 14-lap battle in dry conditions, it was Ajo KTM’s Jaume Masia who prevailed to take his second win of the season after pulling off a daring move to retake a lead he held for much of the race from Sasaki on the last lap. The Moto3 race began in chaotic fashion as rain began to fall from the opening lap of 22, with drama striking at the final corner.

Joan Mir's manager Paco Sanchez says MotoGP riders “merit” having a minimum base salary implemented into any contracts “because they play with their lives”.

“All the factory riders are beyond this. “And MotoGP riders are the stars of this world. “We forget sometimes, but they are playing with their lives.

Race results from the 2022 French Moto3 Grand Prix at Le Mans.

(KTM) (Honda) (Honda) (KTM) (CFMOTO) (KTM) (Husqvarna) (KTM) (GASGAS) (CFMOTO) (GASGAS) (Husqvarna)

Red Bull KTM's Jaume Masia proved victorious in Le Mans after rain and red flags shortened the Moto3 race to 14 laps.

Sasaki was in the lead as the final sector began before Masia returned the move through the final corner to take the victory by 0.15s, his second of the season. Garcia was through on Suzuki for third with ten laps to go, Masia holding a tenth gap out front with Migno dropping to the back of the top nine. One to go and Foggia held Masia by a mere 0.007s before the Red Bull rider struck back, Sasaki likewise dropping the Italian to third as Suzuki lost out to Guevara for fourth. Öncü and Sasaki headed Tatay and Guevara as the CFMoto got the better of the Aspar man midway through lap four. Sasaki was on the move as the opening lap neared its conclusion, demoting the PruestelGP man as Foggia struck for the lead down the home straight. Suzuki bettering his teammate for second moments later with Masia and Rivacold Snipers’ Andrea Migno completing the top five as the opening lap played out.

The Aprilia rider qualified on the front row and his good form has continued on race day.

????— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) @AleixEspargarois your fastest rider in #MotoGPwarm up! The session ran in dry conditions but, with the threat of rain later in the day, Miller was among those who practiced a flag-to-flag bike change and some even briefly ran wet Michelin tyres. Takaaki Nakagami made it three manufacturers in the top three with a 1:31.822 on his LCR Honda Idemitsu entry.

Warm-up results from the French MotoGP at Le Mans, round 7 of the 2022 world championship.

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Gresini's Enea Bastianini stormed to his third win of the 2022 MotoGP season in a dramatic French Grand Prix after long-time leader Francesco Bagnaia ...

Bastianini hounded Bagnaia in the latter stages of the race and made his move for the lead into the Dunlop chicane on lap 21 of 27. Behind, Joan Mir on the sole-remaining Suzuki was up into the podium battle and was closing down Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro for third when he crashed on lap 15 to compound a disastrous weekend for Suzuki in light of its decision to quit MotoGP at the end of 2022. Miller and Bagnaia pulled away by around a second at the start of the fourth tour, with Bagnaia taking the lead from his Ducati team-mate into Turn 6 when the Australian ran wide on lap four.

Australia's Jack Miller has missed out on a first win of the 2022 MotoGP season after some costly mistakes, but he held on for a second-place at Le Mans.

Championship leader and defending champion Fabio Quartararo was fourth, behind Aleix Espargaro. Enea Bastianini, seeing Bagnaia beginning to pull away out the front, made his move on Miller with 16 laps remaining to relegate the Aussie to third. Australia’s Jack Miller has missed out on a first win of the 2022 MotoGP season after some costly mistakes, but he held on for a second-place at Le Mans.

Gresini Racing's Enea Bastianini scored a dominant third victory of the 2022 season in the FrenchGP at Le Mans on Sunday.

Miller safe in second by a further 1.5s as Quartararo continued to circulate on the wheels of the RS-GP in the battle for third. Five laps left to run with a world champion two-tenths adrift of his rear wheel and the second Frenchman four seconds back in fifth. Ducati continued to dominate after nine laps around the 4.2km layout as Bagnaia, Miller and Bastianini held over a second clear of Mir in fourth. Bastianini trailed by Joan Mir and Espargaro as Quartararo circulated almost a second adrift in the top six. Repsol’s Pol Espargaro and Miguel Oliveira running just adrift as the second lap concluded with Rins crashing out of podium contention at the Dunlop Chicane having tracked through the gravel at high speed. Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia launching from pole ahead of Lenovo teammate Miller and Aprilia’s Espargaro with Quartararo and Pramac’s Johann Zarco starting fourth and ninth respectively in the 68-year hunt for a French winner on home soil.

Joan Mir's manager Paco Sanchez says MotoGP riders “merit” having a minimum base salary implemented into any contracts “because they play with their lives”.

“All the factory riders are beyond this. “And MotoGP riders are the stars of this world. “We forget sometimes, but they are playing with their lives.

Gresini's Enea Bastianini stormed to his third win of the 2022 MotoGP season in a dramatic French Grand Prix after long-time leader Francesco Bagnaia ...

Bastianini hounded Bagnaia in the latter stages of the race and made his move for the lead into the Dunlop chicane on lap 21 of 27. Behind, Joan Mir on the sole-remaining Suzuki was up into the podium battle and was closing down Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro for third when he crashed on lap 15 to compound a disastrous weekend for Suzuki in light of its decision to quit MotoGP at the end of 2022. Miller and Bagnaia pulled away by around a second at the start of the fourth tour, with Bagnaia taking the lead from his Ducati teammate into Turn 6 when the Australian ran wide on lap four.

Gresini Ducati rider Enea Bastianini scored his third victory of the 2022 MotoGP season in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed ...

Enea Bastianini Aleix Espargaro Fabio Quartararo Joan Mir Alex Rins Marco Bezzecchi Johann Zarco Jack Miller Jorge Martin Marc Marquez Takaaki Nakagami Maverick Viñales Brad Binder Luca Marini Pol Espargaro Miguel Oliveira Fabio Di Giannantonio Alex Marquez Franco Morbidelli Andrea Dovizioso Remy Gardner Raúl Fernández Darryn Binder Jack Miller Aleix Espargaro Fabio Quartararo Johann Zarco Marc Marquez Takaaki Nakagami Brad Binder Luca Marini Maverick Viñales Pol Espargaro Marco Bezzecchi Fabio Di Giannantonio Alex Marquez Franco Morbidelli Andrea Dovizioso Darryn Binder Miguel Oliveira Francesco Bagnaia Jorge Martin Joan Mir Raúl Fernández Alex Rins Remy Gardner Jack Miller got the holeshot from second on the grid at the start of the race, but soon dropped behind polesitter Bagnaia on the sister factory Ducati and the fast-starting Gresini bike of Bastianini in third, paving the way for a two-horse race for victory.

Race results from the French MotoGP at Le Mans, round 7 of the 2022 world championship.

A nightmare weekend for the home Tech3 team was complete when both Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez crashed out in the early stages. Team-mate Joan Mir was thus the only remaining Suzuki, in fourth. Espargaro prevailed, for his third podium in a row. With 16 laps to go, Bastianini spotted Bagnaia escaping and promptly passed Miller to stay in contact with his fellow Italian, while Mir made it both GSX-RRs on the floor with a lowside at mid-distance. Much worse was to follow at the end of the lap when Bagnaia crashed out of second through the slow left-handers, signalling his second DNF of the season and yet another blow to his already flagging title hopes. Enea Bastianini wins the French MotoGP at Le Mans to continue his dream season with the Gresini team, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of their victory duel with six laps to go.

A Pecco Bagnaia crash handed victory on a plate to the Gresini rider with Jack Miller and Aleix Espargaro also on the podium in Le Mans.

Coming in fifth was Zarco, who displayed some excellent pace throughout, and it looks to be a case of what could have been for the man from Cannes. Marquez rounds out the top six while Nakagami can be pleased with another seventh place finish. From there, Bastianini just had to keep it steady to bring home his third victory of the year, while Miller was comfortable in second. Next up for MotoGP™ is the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello, where we’re sure to see even more twists and turns in this fascinating World Championship. After a settled number of laps, the victory fight sparked into life as Bastianini began to swarm all over the rear end of Bagnaia out front. Bagania and Rins had both picked off Bastianini to drop him out of the podium places, though for the GSX-RR, his race ambitions would come crashing to a halt at the beginning of the third lap. However, the Aprilia rider still had work to do as he was still 1.1s away from Miller in third. The fight wasn’t over though, with Bastianini forcing an error from his Ducati counterpart at Garage Vert, with Pecco running it wide and dropping to P2. That blunder left a second between them and in an effort to reel in the satellite rider, Bagnaia pushed it too hard around the final corner and slid into the gravel and out of the race. As a result, it was a Ducati one-two-three with the factory riders building up a gap out front. Bastinaini’s tyre conservation is renowned within the paddock, and coming up to the midway point, it was a matter of when rather than if he would overtake Miller, who was using a soft-soft combination. ???? #FrenchGP???????? pic.twitter.com/j1rhsELtVq May 15, 2022 Miller got the perfect launch from the line to take the holeshot ahead of Bastianini, who had fought his way through from the second row. For the third time this season, Enea Bastianini is a MotoGP™ race winner.

Joan Mir's manager Paco Sanchez says MotoGP riders “merit” having a minimum base salary implemented into any contracts “because they play with their lives”.

“All the factory riders are beyond this. “And MotoGP riders are the stars of this world. “We forget sometimes, but they are playing with their lives.

Reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo says he is “by far not the favourite” for the 2022 MotoGP title after he struggled in Sunday's French Grand Prix.

So, in terms of speed I was fast.” “This is the most frustrating thing. “The only thing I can do is make no mistakes.

The third step of the podium conquered at Le Mans allowed him to get even closer to Fabio Quartararo in the world championship standings, just after beating the ...

"I knew that getting close to Jack I had problems, so I knew that Fabio had the same problem. I did everything perfectly, blocking Fabio was not an easy strategy to do, but I knew he too would have problems with the front tyre as he was following me so closely ". You have to have fun on the track and then have fun off. In the end this is a show, I agreed to have the camera mounted on my shoulder and in fact I raced with one kilogram extra for the entire race, so I feel very tired. I think the positive thing about the Aprilia is the overall balance. So I knew that I just needed to make no mistakes and brake hard everywhere I lifted off to get on the podium ". "It was very difficult, I was fast but not enough to pass Mir or Miller - said Aleix in the press conference - I knew that today would be a race of survival, the track was very slippery. Then in the final part of the race I saw Fabio on the screens who was really close to me. He was better in the middle of the curve, so I knew that if I went wide in a corner even by just two meters he would pass me. "I think I can win this world championship, I will believe it until the very end. I don't know what to say about the contract. But a contract for the future has not yet been signed, and Aleix is starting to become impatient.

Bastianini won Sunday's French GP at Le Mans after a brief dice with Bagnaia that ended up with the factory Ducati rider making a mistake while leading on ...

“The only thing changed was that I raced with the medium. “But arriving into the second-last corner I arrived a bit slower and I crashed. “So, I tried to be in front of him as soon as possible. “I braked maybe too hard. But then I did a mistake in Turn 8. If it will be Enea, if it will be Martin for me it will be the same story.

New World Championship standings after the French MotoGP at Le Mans, round 7 of the 2022 world championship.

Le Mans: MotoGP World Championship standings New World Championship standings after the French MotoGP at Le Mans, round 7 of the 2022 world championship. Le Mans: New 2022 MotoGP World Championship standings

Bastianini won Sunday's French GP at Le Mans after a brief dice with Bagnaia that ended up with the factory Ducati rider making a mistake while leading on ...

“The only thing changed was that I raced with the medium. “But arriving into the second-last corner I arrived a bit slower and I crashed. “So, I tried to be in front of him as soon as possible. “I braked maybe too hard. But then I did a mistake in Turn 8. If it will be Enea, if it will be Martin for me it will be the same story.

Jack Miller is set to move from Ducati to KTM at the end of the 2022 MotoGP season, according to a report in Italian media. The Queenslander's place at the ...

However, whether he ends up at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing or Tech3 KTM Factory Racing, the latter of which is the satellite team despite its name and orange RC16 bikes, remains to be seen. Jack Miller is set to move from Ducati to KTM at the end of the 2022 MotoGP season, according to a report in Italian media. Since then, the threat has doubled with the rise of another satellite Ducati rider in Enea Bastianini, who sits third in the championship after picking up a third win of the season at the just-completed French Grand Prix on a 2021 model Desmosedici.

The Yamaha rider was expected to fight for victory on Sunday at Le Mans having shown the strongest race pace all weekend throughout the practice sessions.

So, in terms of speed I was fast.” “This is the most frustrating thing. “The only thing I can do is make no mistakes.

2022 Le Mans French MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 and MotoE Race Reports, Results and Championship points standings.

Okubo and Ferrari crossed the line just behind in sixth and seventh, with Hector Garzo (Tech3 E-Racing) moveing up from his grid position to eighth. Due to an injury sustained during the warm-up of the Spanish GP, Joel Kelso had to give up before the race because of pain in his adductor. That gave Masia a couple tenths of breathing space out front, but it didn’t last long as he was soon reeled in by Foggia and Sasaki at S Bleu with just over three laps to go. With a new race distance of 14 laps set, it was always going to be a tight affair with the sun shining again, and so it proved. Up ahead, Fernandez eased off in the closing laps and cruised to victory by an official margin of 3.746 seconds. Next it was Beaubier who invited some pressure when he ran wide at La Chapelle on the third-last lap, and Chantra made the pass a lap later as they ran through Turn 13. As Fernandez continued to enjoy a margin of six to seven seconds over the rest, second-placed then Chantra outbraked himself at Garage Vert on Lap 18 and had to let his bike run wide. In doing so, he made room for the American to also go past Canet and reclaim third, but Canet turned the tables on Lap 18, passing Beaubier from a long way back at the Turn 3/Turn 4 chicane and making it stick. Meanwhile at the front, the pole-sitter had just started to put the hammer down when he lost the front through La Chapelle, rider ok but his hopes of a breakthrough Moto2 victory dashed. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Augusto Fernandez has broken a drought of almost three years with victory at the SHARK Grand Prix de France, with he and teammate Pedro Acosta pulling clear in the early laps before the rookie crashed out the lead on Lap 11. Bagnaia was in third with Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins and Joan Mir split by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in P5. A poor start from Aleix Espargaro saw him drop to seventh, while Quartararo also went backwards, the Frenchman initially swallowed up by a number of riders before starting to make progress forward. For the third time this season, Enea Bastianini has engaged Beast Mode. Another 25-point haul at the SHARK Grand Prix de France sees the Gresini Racing rider move to within eight-points of the top of the Championship, taking another Independent Team win and make quite a statement.

Jack Miller is no stranger to contract chatter, but there appears to be a twist in the tale as far as his future is concerned. Sky Sport Italia reports that he ...

He is close to doing so but, if the Portuguese rider were to move on, he would be replaced by ‘Jackass’. Until now, it had been suggested that he would return to Pramac, where he spent three years before getting the endorsement of a promotion to the factory Ducati outfit. Sky Sport Italia reports that he will be on the move to KTM at the end of the year.