Record crowd numbers welcomed the paddock back to Le Mans and the French GP for Round 7 of the 2022 World Championship. The fans turned up in their droves and they were not left disappointed by a thrilling premier class race that had huge title implications.
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REWIND: CHAPTER 7 - FEVER PITCH
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UNHEARD: FRENCH GP PODIUM FINISHERS DISSECT THE RACE
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WATCH: BAGNAIA BLOWS IT UNDER PRESSURE FROM BASTIANINI
Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) took his third win of the season after forcing Francesco Bagnaia into a couple of uncharacteristic errors when leading, which saw the Ducati rider crack under the pressure crash out of contention on the 21st lap. It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the factory Ducatis, as Jack Miller crossed the line in P2 to take his second podium of the year, while Aleix Espargaro completed a hat-trick of consecutive top threes after withstanding some late pressure being applied by Championship leader and home favourite Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™).
Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) was the other home favourite but he failed to produce a podium challenge and finished fifth. In the early exchanges, the Pramac rider had a coming together with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) which saw the South African lose a wing, but it couldn’t stop him from taking P8 after a P18 start.
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SHOULDER CAM: THE RACE START AS EXPERIENCED BY A. ESPARGARO
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FREE: THE FINAL LAP FROM THE FRENCH GRAND PRIX
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MARC MARQUEZ PULLS OFF MAGICAL FP1 ON THE KERB SAVE
Only a few days after Suzuki announced their intentions to withdraw from MotoGP™, both Joan Mir and Alex Rins compounded their troubles by recording DNFs.