Le Mans MotoGP: Lorenzo takes victory and championship lead

2010 MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has won the wet race at Le Mans by 9.9 seconds and taken the lead in the championship by eight points.

Lorenzo got an excellent start to lead from flag to flag, consistently lapping faster than any of the riders behind him.

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner took second place off the line, though he was unable to get close to Lorenzo.

The battle for the final podium spot was between Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow.

Crutchlow took third spot from Rossi with 16 laps to go, with team-mate Dovizioso then relegating Rossi to fifth. Dovizioso then moved through to third, with Rossi following in to fourth.

With 10 laps remaining Crutchlow was pushing hard to make up ground on Rossi when he crashed on the brakes going in to the second corner. Crutchlow was able to remount to finish eighth.

Rossi then took third from Dovizioso and got his head down to catch Stoner in second. Rossi passed Stoner with three laps to go, but Stoner retook second place immediately.

Stoner though was unable to hold off Rossi, who took second spot on the final lap and held on to the line to record his best ever result on the Ducati.

It was to be a bad day for Tech 3 Yamaha as Dovizioso crashed out with three laps to go. He was able to remount and finished seventh.

James Ellison rode a brilliant race to finish top CRT in 11th.

Randy de Puniet had a disappointing home race. He crashed at the start when his Aprilia CRT bike spun up and threw him off. He went out on his spare bike but crashed out of the race with six laps to go.

1 25 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 141.6 49’39.743
2 20 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 141.1 +9.905
3 16 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 141.0 +11.298
4 13 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 140.2 +29.361
5 11 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 140.0 +32.477
6 10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 140.0 +32.842
7 9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 138.8 +59.759
8 8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 138.5 +1’05.152
9 7 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 138.4 +1’07.846
10 6 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 138.2 +1’13.193
11 5 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 137.6 +1’26.663
12 4 54 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART 137.5 +1’27.633
13 3 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 135.8 1 Lap
14 2 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 135.4 1 Lap
15 1 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR 135.0 1 Lap
16  11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 133.1 1 Lap
17  7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 131.3 2 Laps
18  22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR 126.8 2 Laps