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LE MANS, France - The old order changeth, goes the saying, and indeed it does, with the old order back on top on the hallowed tar of Le Man after the 2015 MotoGP.
It was Jorge Lorenzo who not only led for most of the race but also stayed there to win from Yamaha team mate Valentino Rossi with Lorenzo easily showing how the way.
Third was Andrea Dovizioso and fourth - after a long, long ride down the order in sixth, was Honda's Marc Marquez after a late-race, knee-banging battle with Ducati rider Andrea Iannone.
Reuters reports:
Spain's Jorge Lorenzo celebrated his second successive MotoGP win after beating team mate and championship leader Valentino Rossi in a Yamaha 1-2 at Sunday's race here.
Italian Andrea Dovizioso was third for Ducati, with 2014 champion Marc Marquez finishing only fourth for Honda after starting on pole but losing out in the battle off the line.
The result left Rossi on 102 points while Lorenzo, who won the previous race in Spain and is the first rider to triumph twice in a row this year, has 87 after five rounds.
LEAD ON LAP 1
Dovizioso is on 83 and Marquez 69.
Marquez's team mate and fellow-Spaniard Dani Pedrosa failed to score on his comeback, having missing the last three races due to arm surgery. He crashed on Lap 2 but rejoined in last place and finished 16th.
Lorenzo started third, following Dovizioso past Marquez before taking the lead on the opening lap, while Rossi had to fight through from seventh.
Marquez momentarily regained the lead but then ran wide almost immediately, dropping down as low as sixth before regaining fourth.
Lorenzo said his aggressive start had been the key to the race but Rossi, who moved into second with 16 laps to go and smashed the circuit lap record, had pushed him hard later on.
'I AM VERY SATISFIED'
"I saw Valentino in second, he really was very quick so I had to push even at the maximum... but changing a little bit my riding style I could survive and finish the race with another victory," he told reporters.
"It's very important for the championship so I am very satisfied."
Rossi, who shook hands with his team mate after each got off his bike, was happy to have kept his overall lead after taking a gamble with the set-up following difficulties in practice and qualifying.
"We suffered a lot during the practice because I wasn't able to ride the bike at the limit," he said. "It also happened in Jerez but this time we risked more and for the race did something very different.
"I needed two or three laps to understand but after I had the good pace... had a great battle with the two Ducatis. When I arrived behind Jorge I tried but today he was too fast.
“Anyway this is a great result for the championship. Solid race, solid ride, I enjoyed it - 20 points. Good job."
Result of the Le Mans French MotoGP
1 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 43min44.143
2 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 43min47.963
3 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 43min56.523
4 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 44min04.033
5 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 44min04.380
6 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 44min05.288
7 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 44min19.636
8 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati 44min23.744
9 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 44min25.714
10 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 44min26.932
11 Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 44min37.779
12 Loris Baz (France) Yamaha Forward 44min44.760
13Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 44min48.415
14 Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Honda 44min49.402
15. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Aprilia 44min49.658
MotoGP points after the French GP
1 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 102
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 87
3 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 83
4 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda - 69
5 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 61
6 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda - 47
7 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 46
8 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha - 35
9 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki - 31
10 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki - 27
11 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati - 25
12 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati - 20
13 Scott Redding (Britain) Honda - 13
14 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati - 13
15 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 10
Moto2 result
1 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Kalex 42min27.011
2 Tito Rabat (Spain) Kalex 42min28.778
3 Johann Zarco (France) Kalex 42min30.771
4 Sam Lowes (Britain) Speed up 42min31.087
5 Franco Morbidelli (Italy) Kalex 42min41.503
6 Julian Simon (Spain) Speed up 42min41.692
7 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex 42min41.856
8 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex 42min42.146
9 Hafizh Syahrin (Malaysia) Kalex 42min46.254
10 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Kalex 42min46.542
Moto2 points
1 Johann Zarco (France) Kalex 89
2 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Kalex 68
3 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex 57
4 Sam Lowes (Britain) Speed up 54
5 Franco Morbidelli (Italy) Kalex 54
6 Tito Rabat (Spain) Kalex 53
7 Alex Rins (Spain) Kalex 49
8 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex 39
9 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex 31
10 Hafizh Syahrin (Mala
Moto3 result
1 Romano Fenati (Italy) KTM 41min22.829
2 Enea Bastianini (Italy) Honda 41min22.951
3 Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) Mahindra 41min23.286
4 Danny Kent (Britain) Honda 41min23.522
5 Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) Honda 41min25.073
6 Jakub Kornfeil (Czech Republic) KTM 41min25.250
7 Isaac Vinales (Spain) Husqvarna 41min25.416
8 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) KTM 41min26.894
9 Andrea Migno (Italy) KTM 41min37.705
10 Philipp OEttl (Germany) KTM 41min45.417
Moto3 points
1 Danny Kent (Britain) Honda 104
2 Enea Bastianini (Italy) Honda 67
3 Efren Vazquez (Spain) Honda 60
4 Fabio Quartararo (France) Honda 52
5 Romano Fenati (Italy) KTM 51
6 Isaac Vinales (Spain) Husqvarna 47
7 Brad Binder (South Africa) KTM 44
8 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) KTM 41
9 Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) Mahindra 37
10 John McPhee (Britain) Honda 28
