2021 French MotoGP News and Results (Updated)

Rennie Scaysbrook | May 16, 2021

2021 French MotoGP News—Saturday

Sunday

MotoGP

It took him five years to get a second MotoGP race victory last time out in Spain, and then two weeks later Jack Miller made it a second win on the trot when he claimed top spot at Le Mans for the 2021 French MotoGP.

The factory Ducati pilot came out the winner in incredibly tricky conditions that saw riders start on slicks, change to wets and nurse the tires to the line as the track dried.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results Miller wins — **Jack Miller sticks it on the back wheel after a masterful display in France.**

It was a happy day for France as Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) ran down compatriot Fabio Quartararo in the late stages of the race to take second with pole position holder Quartararo completing the podium in third.

The flag-to-flag race saw Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) emerge from the pits as the race leader, the first time he’d been in that position since returning to action in Portugal. It didn’t last long as he crashed out at the final corner with 22 laps remaining. He rejoined the action but later crashed terminally in turn six on lap 18.

Marquez wasn’t the only one to crash twice. The same fate befell Suzuki’s Alex Rins, once when exiting pit lane at turn three and the second with 15 laps remaining. His teammate and World Champion Joan Mir also crashed out on lap five.

Miller’s win came after two long lap penalties incurred for speeding in pit lane, a penalty that was also handed to his teammate Francesco Bagnaia. Quartararo also had to serve a long lap penalty after pitting in the wrong pit box for the bike change to wet tires, eventually holding on for third.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results flag to flag — **It was chaos in the pits in the early stages, but it was Marc Marquez who initially took the lead of the race.**

Miller held off the charging Zarco to win by 3.9 seconds, with Quartararo holding off a similarly charging Bagnaia. Fifth was a season-best performance by Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM) from Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Idemitsu), his teammate Takaaki Nakagami, Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro, another season-best from Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM) in ninth and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha) in 10^th.

In the championship, Quartararo retakes the lead on 80 points from Bagnaia on 79. Zarco is third on 68 and Miller jumps up to fourth on 64.

The next round of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship is at Mugello in Italy on May 30.

2021 French MotoGP Results

1	Jack Miller	(Duc)
2	Johann Zarco	(Duc)	+ 3.970
3	Fabio Quartararo	(Yam)	+ 14.468
4	Francesco Bagnaia	(Duc)	+ 16.172
4	Danilo Petrucci	(KTM)	+ 21.430
5	Alex Marquez	(Hon)	+ 23.509
7	Takaaki Nakagami	(Hon)	+ 30.164
8	Pol Espargaro	(Hon)	+ 35.221
9	Iker Lecuona	(KTM)	+ 40.432
10	Maverick Vinales	(Yam)	+ 40.577

Moto2

It’s now two wins in the last three Moto2 races for rookie Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) after another flawless display, this time at Le Mans. The Spaniard made no mistake on Sunday afternoon and led home teammate Remy Gardner by 1.4s, Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) completed the podium as title contender Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) suffered an early DNF.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results Fernandez — **Raul Fernandez made it two wins out of three in Moto2. He’s a special one…**

It was a heartbreaking race for the American riders as Joe Roberts crashed out while challenging for the lead in on lap four, and Cameron Beaubier, while running in what would have been a career-best sixth for the American Racing Team, crashed out at the treacherous turn three with five laps remaining.

Gardner holds a one-point lead in the standings, 89 to Fernandez’s 88, with Bezzecchi third on 72. Lowes’ DNF drops the early title leader down to fourth on 66 points.

2021 French Moto2 Results

1	Raul Fernandez	(Kal)
2	Remy Gardner	(Kal)	+ 1.490
3	Marco Bezzecchi	(Kal)	+ 4.599
4	Tony Arbolino	(Kal)	+ 7.503
5	Bo Bendsnyder	(Kal)	+11.887
6	Marcel Schrotter	(Kal)	+ 27.829
7	Ai Ogura	(Kal)	+ 27.975
8	F. Di Giannantonio	(Kal)	+ 28.112
9	Simone Corsi	(MVA)	+ 28.204
10	Jorge Navarro	(Bos)	+ 28.432

Moto3

A masterful performance from Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team’s Sergio Garcia in a damp Moto3 race in France saw the Spaniard pick up his second career victory and the first for the KTM-owned GasGas brand. On a drying Le Mans circuit, Filip Salac (Rivacold Snipers Team) secured his first Grand Prix podium in second, as Riccardo Rossi (BOE Owlride) also stood on the rostrum for the first time in third in a compelling race that saw some title-chasers crash including Gabriel Rodrigo (Honda), Niccolò Antonelli (KTM), Jaume Masia (KTM) and series leader Pedro Acosta (KTM), who remounted to finish a remarkable eighth.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results Garcia — **In ultra-tricky conditions, it was Garcia (11) who came out on top in Moto3.**

Acosta still leads comfortably on 103 points from Garcia’s 49 with Migno (11^th today) third on 46.

2021 French Moto3 Results

1	Sergio Garcia	(GasGas)
2	Filip Salac	(KTM)	+ 2.349
3	Riccardo Rossi	(KTM)	+ 5.589
4	John McPhee	(Hon)	+ 7.158
5	Ayumu Sasaki	(KTM)	+ 14.882
6	Adrian Fernandez	(Hus)	+ 27.279
7	Xavier Artigas	(Hon)	+ 27.408
8	Pedro Acosta	(KTM)	+ 29.880
9	Deniz Öncü	(Hon)	+ 35.098
10	Romano Fenati	(Hus)	+ 36.616

MotoE

In a classic FIM Enel MotoE World Cup race at Le Mans, One Energy Racing’s Eric Granado emerged victorious after a last lap pass sealed the Brazilian a first win of the 2021 season. Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) took second from 15th on the grid despite crossing the line third, with Cup standings leader Alessandro Zaccone (Octo Pramac MotoE) demoted one position for exceeding track limits on the last lap.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results Granado — **Eric Granado (51) held on for his first win of the season in MotoE.**

2021 French MotoE Results

1	Eric Granado	(Ene)
2	Mattia Casadei	(Ene)	+ 0.306
3	Alessandro Zaccone	(Ene)	+ 0.253
4	Dominique Aegerter	(Ene)	+ 0.532
5	Jordi Torres	(Ene)	+ 0.640
6	Yonny Hernandez	(Ene)	+ 0.900
7	Lukas Tulovic	(Ene)	+ 1.045
8	Matteo Ferrari	(Ene)	+ 1.751
9	Corentin Perolari	(Ene)	+ 4.727
10	Maria Herrera	(Ene)	+ 4.999

2021 French MotoGP News—Saturday

Riders to request Le Mans schedule change?

Le Mans in early May has a distinct lack of charm (just ask the media in attendance). The cold mornings, regular showers, and tire allocations that aren’t designed for temperatures this low all contribute to this being one of the less popular rounds on the calendar. For the second year in succession, the number of crashes at the French venue soared, with 44 coming on the first day alone.

2021 French MotoGP News Saturday Espargaro — **Aleix Espargaro, as usual, was one of the most vocal riders, this time regarding the date of the Le Mans race.**

Coming off 2020, when 100 crashes occurred (36 more than the circuit with the second-highest number), some riders were questioning why the series continues to visit northern France in the middle of Spring. Aleix Espargaro was one of them. “We can’t come to Le Mans with 53 degrees (F) on the tarmac, because the tires that Michelin and Dunlop are bringing are not working.

“I don’t know if someone sees it as funny that we crash. Why don’t we change the race to a normal situation? It’s very difficult to predict what is going to happen. And the MotoGP allocation of the front, we have one tire, which normally I don’t even put on the wheels, it’s super soft and we are even like this crashing. And Michelin has no other option which is softer.”

Marquez overcompensating

On Saturday morning, Marc Marquez topped his first MotoGP session since he suffered a career-threatening injury at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix. The wet conditions experienced in FP3 were kinder to the eight-time champion, still suffering from a lack of upper-body strength.

2021 French MotoGP News Saturday Marquez — **A crash for Marquez shows he’s trying, but still not quite ready to push 100 percent.**

“When I speak about muscles, I mean all the arm is close to 80 percent. But some are 50 percent. It depends on the movement,” he said of the recovery of his right arm and shoulder. “I’m struggling more, especially the back of the shoulder. If you remember, two winters ago I had an operation on the right shoulder. That injury still is not 100 percent recovered because there was some damage to a nerve in the shoulder.”

That means Marquez is still struggling in long right corners, “like corner 1, corner 5, corner 8 … But then in the left corners, I’m feeling really good, normal.” Yet that creates its own problems: “It’s where I want to gain time and I push too much. If you check, two times in Jerez, one time here, I crashed in a left corner, because it’s where I feel the most confident and I try to take all the lap time there.”

Turn 3 dilemma

Le Mans’ turn three has long been MotoGP’s most lethal corner. The track’s first left corner was the scene of 30 falls in 2020 (the highest number on the entire calendar) and continued to catch even the highest-profile names out. There were 19 crashes at that very spot on Friday.

As Valentino Rossi explained, “Turn 3 is a nightmare. Every lap when you arrive you’re very worried. First of all, it’s the 1^st corner of left after 2 corners of right, a long straight, and two more corners on the right, so with low temperatures, the tire is cold so there is not a lot of grip. The second thing is the banking is the opposite. The negative banking (camber), is a disaster for the bike. You have to lean the bike on the left but negative banking it’s a problem. The 3^rd factor is this track is used for car racing in the 24 hrs and the part that cars use has less grip. The asphalt is more old. When you make 24 hours with 70 cars the track become old very early.”

Saturday

MotoGP

Fabio Quartararo made it two French MotoGP pole positions in a row when he took his Monster Energy Yamaha to a 1:32.600 on his final flying lap to beat teammate Maverick Vinales by 0.081s. Spanish GP winner Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) is on the front row in third, his teammate and World Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia is forced to start 16th.

It looked for a few minutes at the end of the Q2 session that Marc Marquez might steal a fairytale pole position on his third ride back since a career-threatening injury last year, but a late flurry of fast laps as the conditions improved saw the eight-time world champion bumped down to sixth at the finish.

Rounding out the top five was Franco Morbidelli and the first Pramac Ducati of French home hero Johann Zarco.

Marquez heads Nakagami in seventh, Pol Espargaro, Valentino Rossi, and Miguel Oliveira who rounds out the top 10.

Lorenzo Savadori had a career-best 11^th in qualifying on the factory Aprilia, the Italian sensationally taking top spot in Q1 after falling early in the session. Savadori’s time in Q1 put his teammate Aleix Espargaro out of Q2, marking the first time Savadori has got the better of Espargaro in qualifying. Rounding out the top 12 is Luca Marini on the Sky VR46 Ducati.

2021 French MotoGP Results—Q2

1	Fabio Quartararo	(Yam)	1:32.600
2	Maverick Vinales	(Yam)	+ 0.081
3	Jack Miller	(Duc)	+ 0.104
4	Franco Morbidelli	(Yam)	+ 0.166
5	Johann Zarco	(Duc)	+ 0.277
6	Marc Marquez	(Hon)	+ 0.437
7	Takaaki Nakagami	(Hon)	+ 0.520
8	Pol Espargaro	(Hon)	+ 0.550
9	Valentino Rossi	(Yam)	+ 0.791
10	Miguel Oliveira	(KTM)	+ 1.276
11	Lorenzo Savadori	(Apr)	+ 1.658
12	Luca Marini	(Duc)	+ 1.665

Moto2

Raul Fernandez clinched his maiden intermediate class pole position thanks to a 1:50.135 in damp Q2 conditions. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Q1 graduate Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) line up on the front row as we see yet more unpredictable conditions at Le Mans. It was a shocker of a session for Cameron Beaubier, the five-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion struggling down in 24^th on the American Racing Team Kalex.

2021 French MotoGP News Saturday Fernandez — **This kid is special… Fernandez took pole in France, his first in Moto2.**

2021 French Moto2 Results—Q2

1	Raul Fernandez	(Kal)	1:50.135
2	Marco Bezzecchi	(Kal)	+ 0.240
3	Joe Roberts	(Kal)	+ 0.379
4	Aron Canet	(Bos)	+ 0.647
5	Augusto Fernandez	(Kal)	+ 0.661
6	Bo Bendsneyder	(Kal)	+ 0.997
7	Remy Gardner	(Kal)	+ 1.011
8	Hector Garzo	(Kal)	+ 1.080
9	Stefano Manzi	(Kal)	+ 1.225
10	Sam Lowes	(Kal)	+ 1.896

Moto3

A phenomenal Q2 slick tire gamble from Rivacold Snipers Team’s Andrea Migno saw the Italian power to a second pole position of the season by over two seconds i France. Migno’s 1:47.407 was set on his last flying lap and it denied second fastest Riccardo Rossi (BOE Owlride) a dream debut pole, but the latter will be over the moon with P2 after a crash at the start of the 15-minute session. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completes the front row as Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) failed to make it out of Q1 and will start from 21^st.

2021 French MotoGP News Saturday Migno — **Andrea Migno timed his run perfectly to smash the opposition in Moto3 Q2.**

2021 French Moto3 Results—Q2

1	Andrea Migno	(Hon)	1:47.407
2	Ricardo Rossi	(KTM)	+ 2.001
3	Jaume Masia	(KTM)	+ 2.204
4	John McPhee	(Hon)	+ 2.233
4	Gabriel Rodrigo	(Hon)	+ 2.277
6	Niccolo Antonelli	(KTM)	+ 2.487
7	Filip Salac	(Hon)	+ 3.187
8	Sergio Garcia	(GasGas)	+ 3.379
9	Tatsuki Suzuki	(Hon)	+ 3.520
10	Romano Fenati	(Hus)	+ 3.555

MotoE

Thanks to a whole host of lap times getting canceled for yellow flag infringements, Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) has earned his second E-Pole P1 of the season. The Brazilian will line up alongside Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team) and Matteo Ferrari (Indonesian E-Racing Gresini MotoE) on Sunday’s grid as fastest rider Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) gets demoted to P6.

2021 French MotoGP News Saturday Granado — **Eric Granado is looking unstoppable in MotoE right now.**

2021 French MotoE Results—E-Pole

1	Eric Granado	(Ene)	2:00.315
2	Miquel Pons	(Ene)	+ 0.101
3	Matteo Ferrari	(Ene)	+ 0.340
4	Xavi Cardelus	(Ene)	+ 1.122
5	Alessandro Zaccone	(Ene)	+ 1.882
6	Dominque Aegerter	(Ene)	+ 3.102
7	Andrea Mantovani	(Ene)	+ 3.457
8	Fermin Aldeguer	(Ene)	+ 4.527
9	Yonny Hernandez	(Ene)	+ 4.930
10	Hikari Okubo	(Ene)	+ 5.546

2021 French MotoGP News—Friday

Finland off, Austria doubles up

On Friday at the 2021 French MotoGP, it was announced the first Finnish Grand Prix since 1982 has been pushed back yet another year. The event at the all-new Kymi Ring was supposed to stage its inaugural World Championship event on 11 July, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting travel complications entering Finland resulted in its cancellation.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results Finland — **Austria now gets another MotoGP round in place of Finland.**

In its place, Austria’s Red Bull Ring will host a doubleheader on the new date of August 8 for the Styrian Grand Prix. The Austrian Grand Prix will stick to its original date of August 15. But riders have been informed the high-speed track’s turn three will not be modified after riders voiced concerns over its safety in the wake of Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco’s terrifying 140mph collision last August.

“I would have preferred a chicane between Turn 1 and Turn 3, something to slow it down a little bit, but we were not able to react to that in time,” said Jack Miller. Aleix Espargaro added, “Two races there with no modifications obviously doesn’t make the riders happy at all.”

Dovizioso rained out of the Aprilia latest test

After an inauspicious testing debut aboard Aprilia’s RS-GP at Jerez in April, much was riding on Andrea Dovizioso’s second outing for the Italian factory at Mugello. But the weather dampened any high hopes for both the 35-year old and Aprilia as rain afflicted the two day outing on 11^th and 12^th of May.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results Dovizioso — **Dovi had another ride on the Aprilia, but not much good came of it.**

Full-time rider Aleix Espargaro appeared mildly frustrated this recent outing failed to lead to Dovizioso getting any more comfortable aboard the machine which hasn’t finished more than 8 seconds of a race winner in 2021. “The two tests he did for us were both useless. In the wet it’s difficult to understand something. In Jerez test he was not very fast due to conditions of the wind. And it was just his first test. At the moment there are no advantage from his tests,” he said.

Predictably, Dovizioso was once again grilled on his future. But the 15-time MotoGP race winner was unwilling to give much away. A third test is necessary before making a decision. “I don’t think it’s important to speak about racing this year because it wasn’t in the plan. And I couldn’t still push with this bike. So in my opinion there is no reason, in this moment, to think about racing. And we will see, maybe I will have a chance to do some other tests but we have to speak about that. I’m living my life in this moment day by day because I don’t have any stress.”

Miller’s secret: enjoy it

Less than a fortnight on from a famous first win in Ducati colors, and Jack Miller offered up a forthright take on his dramatic change of fortunes. The Australian endured a tough start to life in the factory squad scoring two disappointing ninth places in the Qatar double header before crashing out in Portugal, which led to a good deal of internal struggle.

2021 French MotoGP News and Results Miller — **Jack Miller: “I’m fortunate enough to do it as my job and to not take any moment of this for granted.”**

Asked whether he had seen a sports psychologist to deal with the weight of expectation in those tough moments, Miller shed light on what saw him through. “I don’t think I need to go and see a sports psychologist,” he said. “I’ve tried that before, and it was good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not what I need. I know what he’s told me, that I need to just have a little bit more self-belief. I struggle sometimes with self-belief, and in the past I think I was sometimes too self-confident. Trying to mature and be more of a complete rider, maybe I’ve lost a little bit of this self-belief and knowing ‘I’ve got this.’

“Definitely I think I was able to get that back last weekend, and just trying to be a little bit more free. At the end of the day, I think the biggest thing is that I need to remember many times to myself that I’m just a guy who loves racing motorcycles. I’m fortunate enough to do it as my job and to not take any moment of this for granted. Enjoy it, because it’s what I love to do, it’s literally the most happy place I am in the world is on my motorcycle.”

Friday

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) completed a dream 1-2 for France on day one of the 2021 French MotoGP, Zarco taking top spot with a 1:31.747 with Quartararo 0.095s in arrears in second.

In cold and partly wet conditions at Le Mans, Zarco’s lap came right at the end of FP2 when it looked like Quartararo would take the top spot for the factory Yamaha team. Third for the day went to the second Monster Energy Factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales.

The cold conditions saw plenty of fallers, predominately at the treacherous turn three that caught out World Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), Quartararo, Alex Rins (Suzuki), and Aleix Espargaro, who crashed there twice in the same session.

Fourth overall on Friday went to Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda) who looked on course for pole late in FP2, crossing the line in second but eventually dropping to fourth. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha) rounded out the top five.

Jerez winner Jack Miller (Ducati) topped the damp FP1 session and would finish FP2 in seventh.

2021 French MotoGP Results—Friday

1	Johann Zarco	(Duc)	1:31.747
2	Fabio Quartararo	(Yam)	+ 0.095
3	Maverick Vinales	(Yam)	+ 0.389
4	Pol Espargaro	(Hon)	+ 0.390
5	Franco Morbidelli	(Yam)	+ 0.532
6	Miguel Oliveria	(KTM)	+ 0.549
7	Jack Miller	(Duc)	+ 0.614
8	Marc Marquez	(Hon)	+ 0.885
9	Valentino Rossi	(Yam)	+ 0.922
10	Takaaki Nakagami	(Hon)	+ 0.964

Moto2

Elf Marc VDS Racing Team’s Sam Lowes lapped just over a tenth off the all-time Moto2 Le Mans lap record in FP2 to claim the top spot on Friday. The British rider’s 1:36.307 was enough to beat second-fastest Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) by 0.075s, as Augusto Fernandez joins his teammate inside the top three on day one.

2021 French MotoGP Results Friday Lowes — **Lowes’ time in Moto2 was just shy of the class lap record.**

It was a tough first day for Americans Cameron Beaubier (American Racing Team Kalex) and Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Kalex), the two finishing 23^rd and 28^th, 1.748s and 2.151s off, respectively.

2021 French Moto2 Results—Friday

1	Sam Lowes	(Kal)	1:36.307
2	Raul Fernandez	(Kal)	+ 0.075
3	Augusto Fernandez	(Kal)	+ 0.298
4	Remy Gardner	(Kal)	+ 0.333
5	Nicolo Bulega	(Kal)	+ 0.441
6	Xavi Vierge	(Kal)	+ 0.506
7	Aron Canet	(Bos)	+ 0.557
8	F. Di Giannantonio	(Kal)	+ 0.652
9	Marco Bezzecchi	(Kal)	+ 0.755
10	Bo Bendsneyder	(Kal)	+ 0.776

Moto3

A 1:42.150 in a dry Moto3 FP2 saw Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) take the initiative on a mixed condition Friday. Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) is 0.126s off Rodrigo in P2 thanks to his last flying lap, with Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rounding out the top three.

2021 French MotoGP Results Friday Rodrigo — **Gabriel Rodrigo went P1 in Moto3.**

2021 French Moto3 Results—Friday

1	Gabriel Rodrigo	(Hon)	1:42.150
2	Darryn Binder	(Hon)	+ 0.126
3	Jaume Masia	(KTM)	+ 0.181
4	Niccolo Antonelli	(KTM)	+ 0.337
5	Deniz Oncu	(KTM)	+ 0.360
6	Andrea Migno	(Hon)	+ 0.388
7	Romano Fenati	(Hus)	+ 0.403
8	Ryusei Yamanaka	(KTM)	+ 0.456
9	Stefano Nepa	(Hon)	+ 0.500
10	Ayumu Sasaki	(KTM)	+ 0.605

MotoE

Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) was the only MotoE rider to dip into the 1:43s bracket on Friday. FP2 saw the Brazilian set a 1:43.909 to lap just shy of last season’s E-Pole time, as Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) and Lukas Tulovic (Tech3 E-Racing) occupy P2 and P3 respectively.

2021 French MotoGP Results Friday Granado — **Another P1 for Eric Granado in MotoE.**

2021 French MotoE Results—Friday

1	Eric Granado	(Ene)	1:43.909
2	Jordi Torres	(Ene)	+ 0.136
3	Lukas Tulovic	(Ene)	+ 0.160
4	Alessandro Zaccone	(Ene)	+ 0.179
5	Dominique Aegerter	(Ene)	+ 0.293
6	Fermin Aldeguer	(Ene)	+ 0.777
7	Miquel Pons	(Ene)	+ 0.977
8	Hikari Okubo	(Ene)	+ 1.026
9	Mattia Casadei	(Ene)	+ 1.089
10	Yonny Hernandez	(Ene)	+ 1.111

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