The first big twist in the Championship tale came in France, as Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took a perfect win from pole at one of his most successful venues – but the Championship change came courtesy of the first big mistake for Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), who crashed out and could only rejoin to take P13. Lorenzo’s unbelievable 10 second margin of victory over teammate Rossi saw the Mallorcan blast to the top of the standings by five points over Marquez, with Rossi only seven behind the previous leader as the Italian took another podium. Movistar Yamaha were on the move.
???? A faultless performance from @lorenzo99, who takes the win at #FrenchGP!
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) 8 May 2016
https://t.co/fOJpqbDFsx
Le Mans was also the scene for Maverick Viñales’ (Team Suzuki Ecstar) first podium in MotoGP™. After taking his first victory at the venue back in 2011 in the 125 World Championship, the lucky track struck again and the Spaniard took an impressive third-place finish behind 2017 teammate Rossi.
Incredible turn of events as @marcmarquez93 and @AndreaDovizioso suffer identical crashes, #MV25 is 3rd! #FrenchGP https://t.co/4BqIknKCqB
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) 8 May 2016
Andrea Dovizioso’s (Ducati Team) bad luck continued once again in France, although this time the fault was of the Italian. Crashing out almost in tandem with Marquez although in separate incidents, ‘DesmoDovi’ remained with only one incident-free finish in five races – but it had been a podium.