Le Mans MotoGP: Stoner secures second victory of the season

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) secured his second victory of the season at Le Mans. After starting from pole Stoner reclaimed first from team mate Dani Pedrosa in the second lap, where he then stayed for the remainder of the race building a margin of over 14 seconds.

Pedrosa kept pace with Stoner until losing second place to Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), which led to a controversial clash when Pedrosa went to re-take second and the Honda riders collided. Pedrosa fell, resulting in the Spaniard breaking his right collarbone and Simoncelli was given a ride through penalty.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) fought with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) for second place, trading places several times, but Dovizioso managed to hold off the nine time World Champion. Rossi took third, his first podium finish of the season on the Ducati.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) climbed to third before falling down the timesheets, being re-passed by Dovizioso and Rossi to finish in fourth place.

Simoncelli managed to take fifth place in the last moments of the race despite the ride through penalty, passing Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) who ended the race in sixth. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was seventh, finishing ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama in eighth.

Cal Crutchlow crashed out of ninth place early in the race and had to retire, whilst Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team mate Colin Edwards also fell at the French circuit, but was able to return to the track to finish in thirteenth place.

1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 159.6 44’03.955
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 158.7 +14.214
3 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 158.7 +14.564
4 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 158.3 +21.075
5 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 157.7 +31.245
6 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 157.7 +31.609
7 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 157.4 +35.566
8 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 156.5 +51.502
9 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 155.8 +1’03.731
10 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 155.8 +1’03.885
11 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 155.8 +1’04.068
12 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 155.8 +1’04.192
13 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 144.9 2 Laps

Not Classified
Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 155.5 7 Laps
Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 159.3 11 Laps
Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 144.1 22 Laps
Randy DE PUNIET FRA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 144.9 27 Laps