Source: Yamaha Racing.

The Monster Energy Grand Prix de France was host to another dominating Jorge Lorenzo victory while an intense battle for fourth burned.

Lorenzo appeared strong again this weekend, as he had done in Jerez, despite saying that his third on the grid was one of the worst qualifying results of his career. A lightning start allowed the Spaniard to break away early, quickly able to pass Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati and focus on riding his own race.

One of Lorenzo’s strongest areas is his ability to run at the front and set incredibly consistent lap times when not having to battle with other riders. As in Jerez, Lorenzo demonstrated this incredible skill and was nearly untouchable.

“I could overtake Dovizioso early and stay in the lead. I had to manage the one second gap and I had to push really hard even though the front feeling wasn’t great,” he said.

This makes it back-to-back wins for Lorenzo and reignites his championship hopes after many had begun to doubt the Spaniard. The MotoGP paddock heads next to Mugello, a favourite track of Lorenzo and one that has seen several outstanding rides from the Movistar Yamaha rider. On his current form he will be difficult to match.

While Lorenzo was surging ahead, Marc Marquez had a difficult start to the race, dropping as low as sixth before finding his form in the closing stages.

The Spaniard quickly caught Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith ahead, leading to a fiery battle between Marquez and Iannone. The duo swapped positions at nearly every corner, giving spectators flashbacks of their Moto2 days.

The performance of Iannone was particularly impressive as he dislocated his left shoulder less than a week ago at a private Ducati test at Mugello. Marquez eventually came out on top as Iannone’s lap times dropped off significantly in the final three laps, no doubt feeling the pain in his shoulder.

While the battle tore on behind, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi had a brief battle, the Yamaha rider coming out on top. Issues in Jerez saw Dovizioso finish off the podium for the first time this year, this third at Le Mans is important for the Ducati rider’s championship as he sits in second with 67 points, just five more than Lorenzo.

Charging through the field, Rossi seemed as though he may be able to catch his teammate but the gap never dropped below one and a half seconds. It had been a less than ideal start to the weekend for the Italian as he and his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team struggled with finding a good setting.

Big risks in changes to the set up of Rossi’s M1 paid off come the race as he once again extended his championship lead, now 15 points ahead of Dovizioso.

Le Mans was a difficult race for many of the British riders, both Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding fell from the race in what was an overall disappointing weekend for many of the Honda bikes. The higher track temperatures on race day having a negative impact for the Honda riders who struggled for front-end feel.

Bradley Smith did well to finish in sixth behind the dueling pair of Iannone and Marquez after a strong showing earlier in the week. There were also reasons to celebrate for rookie Eugene Laverty, the Irishman scoring his first MotoGP points as he finished in 14th and as the second Open Honda bike.

The Open category was led by Nicky Hayden, the American also qualifying as the highest Open rider. He and Jack Miller had battled during the early stages of the race, but the Australian fell as he exited turn four. Local rider Loris Baz also finished in the points in 12th, taking his best ever MotoGP finish in front of a cheering crowd.

Miller was not the only rider to fall as he existed turn four, returning Dani Pedrosa also took a tumble there. The Spaniard was unhurt and remounted to finish in 16th, some 15 seconds out of the points.

Stefan Bradl was another early faller as he continues to adapt to the Yamaha Forward machine. Both Aleix Espargaro and Karel Abraham were forced into the pits with technical issues, ending their races early.

A fourth career victory in Moto2 sees Thomas Luthi move to second in the championship.

Alex Rins started from pole for the first time in his Moto2 career but made a poor start, dropping down to ninth off the line. It was home hero Johann Zarco who led in the early stages of the race, initially looking as though he could escape at the front but eventually Luthi caught and passed the Frenchman.

From lap five onwards Luthi went unopposed in the lead, taking a comfortable win of over one and a half seconds, his second in the Moto2 class. Tito Rabat’s race did not get off to an ideal start however, as once again he had trouble on the opening laps as he was pushed wide while battling for positions.

Rabat closed down Luthi in the final stages, but his battle with Zarco had him too far behind to catch the Swiss rider. Rabat sits sixth in the standings, 36 points behind Zarco.

Queensland’s Anthont West rallied to a solid haul of points in 11th at Le Mans, which now sees him tied for 13th in the standings following five rounds.

A rain interrupted Moto3 qualifying session resulted in a mixed grid and a riveting race as riders charged through the pack. Fortunately the skies were clear come Sunday in Le Mans, but this still left a lot of work many riders to do.

Brad Binder, Remy Gardner and Gabriel Rodrigo were all victims of this added pressure as they fell going in to the chicane on lap one. Efren Vazquez suffered a quick highside as he exited, ending any hopes of recovering points after his disastrous qualifying.

Whilst this was happening, Andrea Antonelli and Enea Beastianini had all made very fast starts and joined the leading group in the early stages having started seventh and 18th respectively. They were joined by Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo and Romano Fenati, all who had started inside the top five.

The battle for the victory became an exclusively Italian affair as Quartararo crashed out of his home grand prix as he exited turn four, just as Vazquez and several others had done. With both Quartararo and Vazquez out, Danny Kent was put in a comfortable situation with none of his main championship rivals looking set to score points in France.

Despite this the Britain continued to push, having joined the front group in the closing stages from 30th on the grid. The ride demonstrated his ability to come back from adversity, the Brit having already demonstrated his ability to lead from the front in Austin and Argentina.

It would be the Italian trio of Fenati, Bastianini and Bagnaia who would see Kent finish off the podium for the first time this season. Romano Fenati took his and KTM’s first win of the season having spent the entire race battling with his compatriots on the Honda and the Mahindra.

2015 MotoGP World Championship
Round five – Le Mans, France

MotoGP race results:
1. Jorge LORENZO
2. Valentino ROSSI
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO
4. Marc MARQUEZ
5. Andrea IANNONE
6. Bradley SMITH
7. Pol ESPARGARO
8. Yonny HERNANDEZ
9. Maverick VIÑALES
10. Danilo PETRUCCI
11. Nicky HAYDEN
12. Loris BAZ
13. Hector BARBERA
14. Eugene LAVERTY
15. Alvaro BAUTISTA
16. Dani PEDROSA
17. Alex DE ANGELIS
18. Marco MELANDRI

MotoGP championship standings:
1. Valentino ROSSI 102
2. Jorge LORENZO 87
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 83
4. Marc MARQUEZ 69
5. Andrea IANNONE 61
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW 47
7. Bradley SMITH 46
8. Pol ESPARGARO 35
9. Aleix ESPARGARO 31
10. Maverick VIÑALES 27
11. Danilo PETRUCCI 25
12. Yonny HERNANDEZ 20
13. Scott REDDING 13
14. Hector BARBERA 13
15. Dani PEDROSA 10
16. Nicky HAYDEN 8
17. Loris BAZ 6
18. Jack MILLER (AUS) 6
19. Hiroshi AOYAMA 5
20. Alvaro BAUTISTA 3

Moto2 race results:
1. Thomas LUTHI
2. Tito RABAT
3. Johann ZARCO
4. Sam LOWES
5. Franco MORBIDELLI
6. Julian SIMON
7. Takaaki NAKAGAMI
8. Xavier SIMEON
9. Hafizh SYAHRIN
10. Dominique AEGERTER
11. Anthony WEST (AUS)

Moto2 championship standings:
1. Johann ZARCO 89
2. Thomas LUTHI 68
3. Jonas FOLGER 57
4. Sam LOWES 54
5. Franco MORBIDELLI 54
6. Tito RABAT 53
7. Alex RINS 49
8. Xavier SIMEON 39
9. Mika KALLIO 31
10. Hafizh SYAHRIN 31
14. Anthony WEST (AUS) 17

Moto3 race results:
1. Romano FENATI
2. Enea BASTIANINI
3. Francesco BAGNAIA
4. Danny KENT
5. Niccolò ANTONELLI
6. Jakub KORNFEIL
7. Isaac VIÑALES
8. Miguel OLIVEIRA
9. Andrea MIGNO
10. Philipp OETTL

Moto3 championship standings:
1. Danny KENT 104
2. Enea BASTIANINI 67
3. Efren VAZQUEZ 60
4. Fabio QUARTARARO 52
5. Romano FENATI 51
6. Isaac VIÑALES 47
7. Brad BINDER 44
8. Miguel OLIVEIRA 41
9. Francesco BAGNAIA 37
10. John MCPHEE 28

Click here for detailed results