Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez continued his relentless push for a second MotoGP™ World Championship as the Spaniard won his fifth race in a row with victory at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

Starting from pole position, Marquez had a poor start and as the riders completed their first lap, found himself in tenth position. The reigning champion then increased his pace and made his way through the field, setting a new Circuit Record Lap time of 1’33.548 on lap eight, and then taking the race lead on lap twelve. Marquez’s constant pace led him to victory over Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi, who claimed his third second-place finish of the year. Taking third place was GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, who rode brilliantly to claim his first podium since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix.

The track temperature today reached its highest level of the race weekend, with a figure of 46°C recorded in the final stages of the race. Race tyre choice amongst the riders was similar to that from yesterday’s Free Practice 4 session, with the soft compound front and rear slicks proving to be most popular. Only one rider selected the medium compound front slick for the race, the other twenty-one riders selected the soft compound front. Fourteen of the twenty-two starters opted for the soft compound rear slick, while eight riders selected the extra-soft rear that was available only to the Ducati and Open-class entrants. Despite the warmer than usual temperatures at Le Mans, tyre performance during race was excellent, with today’s French Grand Prix having the highest average speed ever recorded at this circuit.

Marquez’s latest victory sees his lead in the championship over his teammate Dani Pedrosa increase to forty-three points. Rossi remains in third place in the rider standings, but now sits just two points behind Pedrosa after five rounds.

Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“It’s been a while since we had a completely dry race weekend at Le Mans, and the constant fine weather gave riders plenty of time to find a setup to get the best performance out of the tyres. The pace this year was a big step forward from last year, but the riders also commented that the warm-up performance and safety of our tyres at Le Mans has also improved, so I am pleased with this result. New Circuit Best Lap, Race Lap and overall race time records were set this weekend at Le Mans. This is a very positive outcome for Bridgestone and shows that our revised tyre allocation for this circuit worked well for the riders.”

Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda – Race Winner
“I enjoyed today quite a lot, particularly the early part of the race. Maybe I was too calm in the early laps, I knew my rhythm was good so maybe I had too much confidence. Then when Lorenzo overtook me, I started to go quick and overtaking many riders which I enjoyed. When I was in second place I saw Rossi in front so I pushed 100% and when I reached Valentino I thought it would be a fight to pass him, but he made a mistake which allowed me to get through. I’m really happy for my fifth victory in a row, and I want to enjoy this moment as even though it looked easy, it was difficult go get the win.”

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Extra-Soft, Soft & Medium; Rear: Extra-soft, Soft & Medium (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main) & Hard (Alternative)
Weather:  Dry. Ambient 24-25°C; Track 43-46°C (Bridgestone measurement)

There is no stopping Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez at the moment, as the Spanish star smashed the existing Le Mans outright circuit lap record by 0.605 seconds for his fifth pole position from the first five races of the season.

While Marquez continued his stranglehold on the top qualifying position this year, starting second on the grid for tomorrow’s French Grand Prix will be Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro, with the MotoGP™ rookie claiming his first ever front-row start with a personal best lap time of 1’32.734. Andrea Dovizioso’s successful record at the Le Mans circuit continued today, as the Ducati rider was third in Qualifying Practice 2 with a time of 1’32.755.

In the time attack during Qualifying Practice 2, Marquez and Espargaro set their best time on the soft compound slicks front and rear, while Dovizioso used the soft compound front matched with the extra-soft rear slick.

As was the case yesterday, weather conditions today were warm and dry, with the peak track temperature of 45°C recorded during QP2. In the earlier Free Practice sessions, riders assessed a wide range of tyres to see which options were more suitable in the warmer than usual temperatures at Le Mans. During race simulations in FP4, almost every rider preferred the soft compound front slick, matched with their softer rear slick option; extra-soft for the Ducati and Open-class riders, soft for the Factory Honda and Yamaha riders. Coincidentally, as well as being more consistent over longer runs, this same tyre combination yielded the best performance over a single lap, hence it was used by most riders during their qualifying runs.

The twenty-eight lap French Grand Prix starts at 1400 local time tomorrow (GMT +1), with the next MotoGP™ session, the twenty-minute morning Warm Up commencing at 0940 local time.

Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“Another day with perfect conditions gave the riders ample opportunity to try out all the slick tyre options and decide on their race tyre combinations. Although temperatures are warmer than we usually experience at Le Mans, this circuit isn’t demanding on tyres so most riders will opt for their softer rear slick option for the race. For the front tyre, the soft compound option seems to offer the best combination of cornering and braking performance, so I expect this to be widely used tomorrow. This year at Le Mans we’ve brought a new rear tyre allocation with a focus on improved warm-up and safety for the riders. However, it is plain to see that is also provided quite an improvement in performance which the riders, in particular Marc exploited to maximum effect. To beat the existing outright lap record by over half a second is an incredible achievement. Over longer runs, many riders are on a similar race pace so it should be a close contest tomorrow.”