LE MANS, France :Johann Zarco became the first Frenchman in 71 years to win the French Grand Prix after the LCR Honda rider’s decision to start with wet tyres paid off handsomely on Sunday in front of a sellout crowd of more than 120,000 fans at Le Mans.
In a chaotic race where riders swapped bikes multiple times due to rain, Zarco won by a huge margin of nearly 20 seconds ahead of Ducati’s Marc Marquez while Gresini Racing’s Fermin Aldeguer came third for his first MotoGP podium.
Zarco was 17th on lap one when he narrowly avoided a collision and lost places as he went off track. But as confusion and chaos reigned in the rain, the Frenchman slowly made his way through the grid before taking the lead and never looking back.
Zarco is the first Frenchman to win at the iconic circuit since Pierre Monneret in 1954 and the 34-year-old celebrated by performing a back-flip off the barrier in front of the grandstand as the fans chanted his name.
The local fans had come hoping to see another Frenchman, polesitter and 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo, potentially win from pole position but it was the veteran Honda rider who gave them a reason to celebrate.
His victory also ended Ducati’s winning streak in MotoGP at 22 races as Honda took a rare win.
“Hard to believe, I still don’t understand what is happening,” Zarco said.
“The last laps, they were quite long. I think I need a bit of time but it’s just magic because with the rain tyres at the beginning, we had to control.”
RAIN AND RED FLAG
The race was initially red-flagged when every rider entered the pits after the warm-up lap to swap bikes, with all of them on dry tyres moving cautiously around the wet track after Quartararo nearly slipped and fell in greasy conditions.
But after swapping bikes several riders came back in on the sighting lap to switch machines again as the rain abated, risking the double long-lap penalty rather than race on wet tyres on a drying track.
Saturday’s sprint winner Marquez took the lead before Quartararo regained first place and shot ahead to extend the gap while the Spaniard jostled for second with his brother Alex.
Behind them, Francesco Bagnaia crashed at turn three along with Joan Mir, who retired from the race.
Any hopes of Quartararo winning the race evaporated when he crashed at the final corner on lap four as groans echoed around the grandstand, leaving the Marquez brothers to battle it out for the lead.
But both Marc and Alex went into the pits yet again to swap bikes for wet tyres – leaving Zarco, who started on wet tyres, with a commanding lead.
‘CRAZY RACE’
“Crazy race, especially the first part,” said Marc, who now holds a 22-point lead over Alex in the championship.
“But Johan was faster today… I pushed for two laps, I saw that he was faster, even increased the distance. So then I just tried to control (my pace).”
With eight laps left, Zarco’s team urged him to calm down and be cautious with his pace. In the stands, fans were all smiles despite the rain while the anxious ones were seen praying for the 34-year-old to take the chequered flag.
As the rain got heavier, Alex crashed out of third place when he lost control on turn three, allowing KTM’s Pedro Acosta to move up into the podium places before Aldeguer took third towards the end.
“I didn’t know if we can fight today because I don’t have a lot of experience in wet conditions,” Aldeguer said.
“But at the end, with more laps, I started to feel better and had an incredible pace. So happy, my first podium.”
