Yamaha Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jorge Lorenzo retook the championship lead once again at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France as he dominated in tricky conditions, finishing ahead of Valentino Rossi, who recorded his best Ducati result ever.
In by far the worst conditions seen all season, it was Repsol Honda Team‰Ûªs Dani Pedrosa who got off to one of his trademark starts followed by teammate Casey Stoner.
Their lead was short lived, as Lorenzo charged past the pair and instantly pulled out a gap. Monster Yamaha Tech 3‰Ûªs Cal Crutchlow also made a good start in fourth, followed by a surging Rossi in fifth.
It was heartache for the French fans from the beginning as Power Electronics Aspar‰Ûªs local rider Randy de Puniet dropped his bike on the grid, and had to head out on his spare one.
Near the front, Rossi soon moved past Cal Crutchlow to take fourth, with Andrea Dovizioso following suit almost instantly. Avintia Blusens‰Ûª IvÌÁn Silva‰Ûªs race was ended early as he fell foul of the wet conditions, crashing out of the race in the opening stages.
With Lorenzo building a three second lead, Stoner pushed past Pedrosa to chase down his championship rival. Pedrosa seemed to struggling on the wet surface, with Rossi capitalising on this to take third with 21 laps left. The Tech 3 pair Crutchlow and Dovizioso passed Pedrosa pushing him even further down the order.
Near the back, Lorenzo‰Ûªs teammate Ben Spies was struggling and had a wobble at the end of turn two, shortly after which he briefly entered the pits. Cardion AB Racing‰Ûªs Karel Abraham retired with 17 laps to go, with NGM Mobile Forward Racing‰Ûªs replacement rider Chris Vermeulen also having to come in for a helmet change.
As Lorenzo was maintaining his lead around the three second mark ahead of Stoner, it was the ensuing tussle for third between Crutchlow, Dovizioso and Rossi that was providing some breath-taking overtaking in horrific conditions.
Ten laps before the end it was misery for Crutchlow as he lost the front in the first chicane, leaving the two Italians to fight it out for the final podium spot, with Rossi taking third just two corners later. The Brit managed to restart his bike and re-join in eighth.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo had extended his lead to six seconds at the front with Stoner a further four seconds ahead of Rossi.
With five laps to go Stoner was held up slightly by Avintia‰Ûªs Yonny Hernandez, allowing Rossi to get to within half a second of the Australian world champion. Two laps later Dovizioso crashed out of fourth tying to stick with the pair, while down the field Came IodaRacing Project‰Ûªs Danilo Petrucci crashed out of 11th.
The last three laps gave MotoGP fans a racing delight, as old adversaries Stoner and Rossi swapped positions throughout. It was however Rossi who looked back to his old self as he passed Stoner in the first chicane on the last lap, after which he pulled out a lead big enough to secure second. This is the highest result both Rossi and the Ducati team have had in the past two season.
