After an incredible teammate battle, Martín took top spot at the French GP – 588 days since his last win. With Marc Márquez out of the French GP after an incident within Saturday’s Sprint, and the unpredictable forecast we’d seen all weekend, it was bound to be an interesting race day.
A whopping 112,000 spectators took to Le Mans for the highly anticipated race. The fans weren’t disappointed, with the battles proving to make for a captivating French Grand Prix.
Race Start
As the lights went out in Le Mans, championship leader Bezzecchi took the top spot from a second place start. It was a great start from Acosta and Quartararo too, who were fighting it out behind the race leader. Quartararo, however, conceded a place to Bagnaia within the next few laps.
It’s been a bad weekend for the Márquez brothers, with Marc already side-lined due to injury and Álex Márquez sliding into the gravel and out of the race at Turn 4 on the second lap.
Lap 6 brought a risky move from Bagnaia, pulling out of the move to avoid collision with Acosta ahead of him. However, it wasn’t long before he managed to make the move stick, taking second place ahead of Acosta the following lap. The tension didn’t stop there, as Bagnaia was keen to hold his spot. Acosta was trying his level best to stick close behind. Further down the order, Martín took the fifth spot ahead of Quartararo.
The midfield battles were spectacular, with Ogura making a great move on Quartararo. However, not long after this Ogura missed the corner, by proxy, falling down to eighth position.
The Middle Stint
Martín was keen to gain a podium position, after starting in seventh, by Lap 10 he was behind Acosta in third. There were speckles of rain falling around the track now too, casting doubt on whether the race would take a rather soggy turn.
There was soon an awful blow for Moreira. A rare mistake from the rookie meant he crashed out of the race on Lap 11.
Acosta was closing in on Bagnaia by the 15th lap, however total shock for fans came on Lap 16 of the French GP. Bagnaia took a tumble at Turn 2. It was heart-breaking to watch, considering it had been a strong performance from him again this weekend. The Ducati rider was looking decent for the Grand Prix, seemingly overcoming his struggles from last season. It was undoubtedly a huge disappointment for both him and the Ducati team.
Martín worked his way up to third place by Lap 17, and was setting faster track times than the leader Bezzecchi.
The Final Stint
It was a chaotic end section of the Grand Prix. Martín passed Acosta to take second behind Bezzecchi. Martín was figuratively on fire in Le Mans, keeping close to Bezzecchi and not letting that top spot out of his sight.
Mir made an incredible late move on Quartararo, creating heartbreak for the Frenchman, who has yet to achieve a home win.
Lap 20 was full of chaos, with Ogura and Di Giannantonio battling for 4th spot. Di Giannantonio was still managing to keep close behind Acosta, and the group was tight between the top five. After an incredible race so far, Mir crashed out in the final sector of the 20th lap. It was heartbreak for the Honda HRC team.
Ogura finally overtook the VR46 bike by lap 21, a battle which was unforeseen after Di Giannantonio had been a hot favourite all weekend long. On the same lap, Brad Binder joined the growing list of retirees as he crashed his KTM at Museum Corner.
By Lap 22, Ogura was on the tail of Acosta. The next lap brought a brilliant move for the Japanese rider, who overtook Acosta for the final podium spot. Ahead of them, Martín was rapidly closing in on Bezzecchi, and the Aprilia boys had an incredible battle over the last five laps.
With three laps to go, Martín lunged for the top spot from quite far back. It was a beautiful overtake for the Spaniard, and a crucial move for the championship too. The battle between the teammates extends further than on track, with the two fighting for the championship top spot. Di Giannantonio made a great move on Acosta on the final lap of the race to snatch back fourth place.
Martín took the win at the French GP – an incredible battle for first didn’t make the win easy by any means. It had been 588 days since his last win (Indonesia 2024). In a post-race interview, he emotionally Martín referred to his near career-ending crash at the start of the 2025 MotoGP season.
“After the crash, I could never win a race like this.” before adding “I am truly happy. At the start, I didn’t think I’d be able to battle for the win, but I never let up. Aprilia is giving me what I need and my confidence is growing day by day. Now it is important to continue working in this direction to improve even more.”
The Championship Is Heating Up
There’s a long way to go yet, but the championship fight is already getting interesting – here’s how things look after the French GP weekend:
Feature image courtesy of Aprilia Racing