Zarco takes astonishing victory at Le Mans
The MotoGP race in Le Mans had everything—mixed weather, tight battles, and riders crashing in treacherous conditions. But it was Johann Zarco on the LCR Honda who rose to the top, becoming the first Frenchman to win his home Grand Prix in MotoGP since Pierre Monnerert in 1954.
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe how incredible his performance was. Not only did he survive a lap one scare, which saw him run through the gravel trap, but his race pace was consistently a second quicker than Marc Marquez on the Ducati, who finished P2 and later described the race as “crazy.” But nobody was more surprised than Zarco himself, saying, “I never believed it would happen like this—it was magic.” This is only Zarco’s second-ever victory in the premier class, his first coming in 2023 at Phillip Island. More impressively, this marks the first non-Ducati victory in over a year, with Viñales’ triumph in Texas last year aboard the Aprilia being the last time that happened.
Although he didn’t win, Marc Marquez was arguably the biggest winner this weekend. Not only did he cruise to victory in the Sprint Race, maintaining his 100% win record this season, but in the Grand Prix, his two main championship rivals failed to score points, allowing his championship advantage to extend to 22 points.
It was a dreadful weekend for Bagnaia. After qualifying P6, Saturday’s Sprint Race saw him make a ‘simple’ mistake at Turn 2, dropping him out of contention. Then on Sunday, a collision at Turn 2 on the opening lap—caused by Bastianini—barged him off his bike into the path of Mir, as well as Zarco, who bounded through the gravel. He, along with half the grid, started on wets (which in hindsight was the correct tyre), but a trip down the pit lane for slicks, followed by another stop to return to wets, compounded a terrible day. He finished as the last classified rider in P16.
As for Marc’s other title rival—his brother Alex—things were going much more smoothly. He was running in P3 for much of the race until a crash at the Dunlop Chicane saw him slide out of podium contention. Such was his pace advantage, he rejoined just ahead of wildcard rider Nakagami in sixth, but his fortunes worsened. A few laps later, at Garage Bleu, his front end tucked sharply, sending him into the gravel and ending what had looked like a promising race.
These misadventures promoted the KTM of Pedro Acosta into a podium position, with Viñales and Aldeguer also climbing into the top 10. But for Acosta, Aldeguer’s late-race pace was too much to handle, losing out to his fellow Spaniard in the closing laps. This was the rookie’s best weekend in MotoGP, securing two podiums and firmly asserting himself as one to watch.
Elsewhere in the field, Raul Fernandez’s dreadful 2025 season finally flickered into life, finishing 7th—although some 70 seconds off the win. He fended off a late charge from VR46’s Di Giannantonio, beating him to the line by just 0.061s. The chaotic nature of the race was highlighted by Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori claiming his best-ever result in P9, ahead of Fernandez’s teammate, Ogura, in P10.
Marc Marquez heads to the British GP in a few weeks’ time as the favourite to take the top step. However, the fast-paced circuit hasn’t always been fruitful for the 8-time champion, so he’ll be hoping to right the wrongs of the past. One rider especially keen to get rolling in the UK will be Bagnaia, eager to forget this weekend as quickly as possible. He travels to a track where his recent form suggests he should be a serious challenger to Marc.