Jorge Martin makes a late charge to win his first grand prix in nearly 600 days and close in within one point of the championship lead

It was overcast in Le Mans as a threat of rain was looming following a heavy shower after Warm Up. Francesco Bagnaia started from pole position looking for his first victory and podium of the season, his teammate Marc Marquez did qualify in second but the Spaniard injured his fifth metatarsal in his right foot in the Tissot Sprint and was declared unfit. Marco Bezzecchi inherited second and Fabio Di Giannantonio made it an all Italian front row. Pedro Acosta headed the second row alongside home hero Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir and Tissot Sprint winner Jorge Martin started from seventh on the third row.

The lights went out and Bezzecchi took the holeshot ahead of Quartararo and Acosta, Di Giannantonio was fourth with Pecco Bagnaia in fifth.

Johann Zarco was running in tenth but was forced wide at turn 13 by Raul Fernandez and dropped to 14th. Alex Marquez went down at turn four.

Acosta made his move on Quartararo at turn 11 to move into second place and was 0.4 behind Bezzecchi. Martin overtook Ai Ogura at turn three for sixth place.

Bagnaia used the horsepower of the Ducati to overtake Quartararo into turn one to enter the podium places.

Bagnaia went through on Acosta at turn three and held off the Spaniard on the exit of turn four. Di Giannantonio and Martin had gone through on Quartararo.

Ogura tried to pass Quartarar at turn 13 but he went wide and Mir inherited a place.

Di Giannantonio and Martin began to battle and lost a lot of time to Acosta, but Martin with a move at turn seven moved into fourth place.

Ogura tried the move on Quartararo again and this time made it stick and moved into sixth. Diogo Moreira crashed out at turn seven from the points.

Martin was closing in on Bagnaia and Acosta with the gap dropping from 1.5 seconds to 0.5 in three laps.

Bagnaia lost the front at turn three and was out of the race, Factory Ducati’s run of 10 Grand Prix’s without a podium continued.

Martin was the fastest rider on track and moved into second place overtaking Acosta into turn three and blocking Acosta at turn four.

Mir made a late move on Quartararo at turn three and just made it stick for the 2020 World Champion to take sixth place.

Ogura was on his usual late charge, the Japanese rider was all over the back of Di Giannantonio and was faster than Acosta who was 0.8 seconds ahead.

Ogura made the move on Diggia at turn three and was up to fourth, Mir went down at turn ten. The gap between the two Factory Aprilia’s was 0.8 seconds. Brad Binder went down at turn seven.

Ogura made the same move on Acosta and made it an Aprilia one-two-three. Martin was now 0.4 seconds behind Bezzecchi with 1.8 seconds ahead of Ogura with five laps to go.

Martin went through on Bezzecchi at turn three to take the lead with three laps to go and immediately pulled a seven tenth gap.

Martin crossed the line to win the French Grand Prix, his first Grand Prix victory since Indonesia in 2024. Bezzecchi was second with Ogura in third, the first ever Aprilia podium lock out. Di Giannantonio took fourth from Acosta at turn 13, Quartararo was sixth for his best Grand Prix result of the season so far, Enea Bastianini was seventh, Raul Fernandez eighth, Fermin Aldeguer ninth and Luca Marini rounded out the top ten.

Marco Bezzecchi leads the championship with 128 points by one points ahead of Martin, Di Giannantonio was 44 points behind in third.

Featured Image: Jorge Martin