Nick Harris evaluates another fantastic weekend at Le Mans

For the first time in eight years the same riders won back-to-back races across the three classes, as Jorge Lorenzo, Toni Elías and Pol Espargaró took victory in the MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc classes for the second successive race at Le Mans.

motogp.com’ Nick Harris took pole position in the commentary box at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France and here he looks back over what was another thrilling round of the 2010 World Championship.

Starting with the premier class, in which Lorenzo led a podium ahead of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, Nick said: “It was a massive win for Lorenzo. He was so good on the race tyres in practice and qualifying, and psychologically this was a real head-to-head with Valentino Rossi – he came out well on top. Rossi knew he couldn’t beat him and he held him up for as long as he could, but once Lorenzo got through he was always going to win the race.”

“Dovizioso is getting better and better and I thought he rode brilliantly. Dani Pedrosa went into the last lap in third and ended the race in fifth, and it was another very good ride by Nicky Hayden who was flying the Ducati flag because Casey Stoner is finding it hard.”

The intermediate category race was an eventful one, in which a number of riders crashed out early on. Elías assumed the Championship lead with victory, taking it from Shoya Tomizawa who was one of those who failed to finish the contest. “The crashes broke the field up a little bit and the unluckiest was Alex Debón who made a great start. He was leading when he got that dreaded jump-start sign and had a ride-through penalty,” commented Nick.

Finally focusing on the eight-litre class, Espargaró’s success moved him to within two points of Championship leader Nico Terol. “It was a good race at the front, and it told us a lot again. Pol Espargaró’s second successive win, but I think Nico Terol is quite happy to score the 20 points each time around and his time will come. It was an interesting race and the last six laps were completely crazy! The Spaniards are dominating at the moment.”

Nick’s views are part of the Speakers’ Corner section of Fantasy MotoGP 2010, where you can regularly get the opinions of those involved in the Paddock and then test your knowledge by playing the game. There are great prizes to be won, so why wait? Make your predictions for the next round, the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM, now! Click here to make your selection for the fourth round.