Last weekend’s stop of the current MotoGP World Championship at Le Mans marked 11 years since Australian favourite Chris Vermeulen earned his maiden victory in the premier class at the French venue with the former Rizla Suzuki MotoGP outfit.

It was a spirited effort from Vermeulen, who worked his way through the field in extremely challenging conditions to clinch the number one spot in a rain-filled 28-lap affair.

Starting from P12, Vermeulen was an unlikely contender for victory, however that all changed when the heavens opened up and he pitted on lap nine to switch to his rain-prepared GSV-R800.

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It was only a matter of two laps before he carved his way into the lead, passing fellow Aussie Casey Stoner in the process as he went from strength to strength, bridging a healthy advantage to ultimately cross the chequered flag with a 12.599s lead over eventual second place holder Marco Melandri.

The Queenslander, who had limited testing with the new GSV-R800 in wet conditions, was evidently thrilled to stand atop the podium in just his second year of grand prix racing, crediting the team for delivering him a race-winning machine.

“I’m absolutely over the moon,” expressed an ecstatic Vermeulen. “I am really happy for myself, my crew and everyone involved in the team. We’d had a difficult weekend coming into the race as not everything quite went to plan – but we were getting quicker and quicker and I’m sure if it had been dry today we would have improved more.

“The conditions were slippery to start with and it was difficult to know how hard to push. Some guys came past me and then a lap or so later they crashed! It started to rain quite heavy and I decided to come in and change my bike. I came back out and just stuck my head down and tried to get the tyres up to heat up as quick as possible.

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“The bike felt really good in the rain, but as it got heavier it made it hard to hold the bike in top gear down the straight – there was so much water it was just spinning the rear. Tom O’Kane – my crew chief – and the rest of the guys gave me a really good wet bike today as we hadn’t done much wet testing with the new 800. The tyre choice was spot-on and the bike was certainly good enough to win on.”

The victory marked a monumental moment in career and his sole win at the pinnacle of the sport, and it’s an achievement he aligns very closely with capturing the 2003 World Supersport Championship.

To celebrate the victory 11 years on, Vermeulen was presented with his GSV-R800 during the weekend’s Fox Sports broadcast, which came as a pleasant surprise for the now 35-year-old.