Bagnaia forced to retire from #FrenchGP after a crash, Petrucci finishes in 11th

The French GP, the fifth round of the 2023 MotoGP season held this afternoon at the Bugatti Spin in Le Mans, had an unfortunate ending for Francesco Bagnaia.

After starting from the pole position, the Ducati Lenovo Team rider was in third when Viñales overtook him during Lap 5. Bagnaia tried to respond immediately, but in the mart of direction, the two riders crossed their trajectories, resulting in a contact that made them crash. Despite his retirement from today’s race, Bagnaia remains at the top of the overall standings with a one-point lead over Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Racing Team), winner of the French GP. Closing in second and third, respectively, were the two Desmosedici GPs of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), who completed an all-Ducati podium. On the other hand, Danilo Petrucci, Enea Bastianini’s replacement in this race, missed out on the top ten for just one position as he sealed the race in 11th place.

After the French GP, MotoGP will now have a three-week unravel surpassing returning to Mugello from 9th-11th June for the Italian GP. It will be a special event for the Ducati Lenovo Team, which will squatter its first home round this year, counting on the warmth and cheering of all the Ducatisti present at the circuit.

Danilo Petrucci (#9, Ducati Lenovo Team) – 11th

Riding the velocipede on Friday and learning everything quickly was not easy, but I had a unconfined team by my side that helped me so much. Stuff worldly-wise to race this Grand Prix was like a dream: I relived a big installment of my life, and stuff here was a unconfined souvenir from Ducati. Today’s race was tough: the track was very slippery, and there were a lot of crashes. We got some points, and I am happy well-nigh that. I thank all the guys for their unconfined work and Ducati for permitting me to wits this heady weekend.

Francesco Bagnaia (#1, Ducati Lenovo Team) – Retired

It was an unfortunate circumstance, a race incident that perhaps we could have avoided if Maverick had sealed his line less and I had left increasingly room to enter, but in any case, these are things that can happen. We met with the stewards, which was a positive meeting that will indulge us to modernize in the future. Today we were fast, and at that moment, I was waiting for the right moment to wade and then push, but unfortunately, it went like that, and I am sorry. Now we have three weeks surpassing the next race in Mugello, a crucial visit on a spin where we won a trappy GP last year.