By Le Mans standards, a MotoGP race is over before it has even got underway. At the Circuit de la Sarthe, they like to do things over 24 hour periods. Most famously the 24 Heures du Mans car race, which only follows a part of the shorter Bugatti circuit, before departing onto the full 13.6 km endurance racing circuit.
It’s not just cars that race for 24 hours, of course. There’s the 24 hour EWC motorcycle race, a 24 hour truck race, a 24 hour mountain bike race, and even 24 hour literary readings in the charming medieval French city. The mere 41’23.709 seconds Jorge Martin took to win the MotoGP race is a blink of an eye to a regular at the Le Mans circuit. Not even a single stint in the races usually held there.
The French Grand Prix at Le Mans makes up for the brevity of its races with the duration of its festivities. Manchester may have had its 24 Hour Party People in the 1980s and 1990s, but Le Mans has 48, 72, and even 96 hour party people, with some fans rocking up and getting stuck into proceedings early on Thursday.
It is loud, it is raucous, and it involves the always entertaining but rather hazardous combination of very large quantities of alcohol and open flames. Oh, and motorcycle engines, a number of which don’t make it all the way to Monday morning, as rev limiters are given a workout to remember. Le Mans is not a place for those who like a quiet night in or are light sleepers.
Event of the year
All of this raucousness is why there is so much to do at the circuit. At the turn of the century, after the fans had terrorized the city center, the mayor of Le Mans issued promoter Claude Michy with an ultimatum: keep your hooligans at the track, or we ban the event.
Michy responded brilliantly, putting on entertainment that runs pretty much 24 hours a day for the entire weekend. Under his stewardship, the French Grand Prix has grown to become the most popular event on the calendar, with well over 100,000 fans spending several days at the track. There are fairground attractions, bands, dragbike shows, stunt shows, every kind of entertainment under the sun.
The French Grand Prix now serves as a model for the other events on the calendar, with promoters traveling from all around the world to attend the race, and see how it is done. If Liberty Media want to expand the sport, they could do worse than use Le Mans as a template for events.
Fortunately, the on track action is often almost as good as the stuff happening on the sidelines. Last year saw Marc Márquez chase down Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin as they battled for the lead, leaving the trio to scrap for the podium spots over the course of the last seven laps. Jorge Martin prevailed in the end, Márquez stealing second from Bagnaia in the last couple of corners to take second, demoting the factory Ducati rider to third.
If it’s racing you want…
What makes the action so good? The Le Mans is mostly a stop and go track with a few long and sweeping corners thrown into the mix. But the most important factor is the fact that it is littered with chicanes and double corners that offer avenues for attack.
The lap starts with the riders clicking up through the gears from the final corner, leaning the bike over hard to the right as they fire through the Dunlop Curve, and the only place you touch top gear, before shifting down for the Dunlop Chicane.
The chicane has neutered what was once a terrifying fast and sweeping corner, and rightly so. The original Dunlop corner was so fast that if you crashed there, it was always going to be bad. To this day, Alberto Puig suffers complications from the leg he broke there 30 years ago this year, despite an air fence cushioning his crash. He has had multiple surgeries to relieve the problems with his leg, including one earlier this year.
The chicane also poses risks. It is easy to crash there, as Jack Miller demonstrated in 2017. He told the Gypsy Tales podcast (warning: very strong language) that a lump of grass saved his life. After that crash, Le Mans changed pit lane exit and moved the wall Miller hit.
Chicanery
It is more common to lose the front in Turn 3, the entrance to the chicane, as flick the bike hard left for the first time in a third of a lap. Or at the start, lose the front and wipe out the two or three riders next to you. And because the track turns hard right immediately afterward, it is easy to slide across the gravel and onto the track again.
Once safely through the chicane, you pass through the left kink before lining up for La Chapelle, the long right that drops away from you deceptively several meters. A dab on the brakes and turn into Musee, the left hander of Turn 7. You want to turn in early, because Musee opens up and you can get hard on the gas for the short straight toward the double right of Garage Vert.
As one of the hardest braking spots on the track, it is a prime overtaking spot, though it is also far too easy to run wide and lose drive onto the short straight down toward the best corner names on the calendar, the Chemin aux Boeufs, or Cattle Path. This is next best place to pass, and the other hardest braking spot on the circuit. You flick the bike left, but still holding onto some speed, before pivoting the bike to the right through Turn 10.
From here, it is do or die time. Up a gear to accelerate toward the long right then left of Garage Bleu, Turns 11 and 12. Diving up the inside in Turn 11 leaves you open in Turn 12, and if you can get ahead through Turn 12, then it should be fairly simple to defend through the final two rights at Raccordement. The last corner, Turn 14, is key, both to getting drive onto the front straight, or ensuring you motor ahead of your rivals to the line.
The wildcard at Le Mans is always the weather. It is often cold in the morning, prompting Michelin to bring a softer allocation to the French circuit. And because the race is held in the middle of spring, the weather can be changeable. You might even say random: of the 23 races held there since the start of the four-stroke era, 11 have been wet. Almost a perfect coin toss.
Race #24 looks like getting the weather record to a perfect 50%. The forecast is for rain on Saturday afternoon and evening, with a chance of light rain on Sunday. Oh, and a slight chance of rain on Friday as well. The one thing we can be certain of at Le Mans is that anything can happen with the weather.
Ducati dominance to continue?
That makes predicting what might happen quite hard. Rain is probably the best chance of bringing Ducati’s winning streak to an end. At Jerez, Alex Márquez made it 22 in a row for Ducati, matching Honda’s streak from 1997 and 1998. Victory at Le Mans would give Ducati the outright record. Another factory winning would reset the clock.
In dry conditions, however, you would put good money on a Ducati win. Ducatis have won all of the last five grand prix at Le Mans. The most surprising thing about that statistic is that it was with five different riders: Danilo Petrucci in 2020, Jack Miller in 2021, Enea Bastianini in 2022, Marco Bezzecchi in 2023 and Jorge Martin last year. Given that none of those riders are still on a Ducati in MotoGP, if a Ducati wins, it will be in the hands of another rider.
Let us start with the championship leader. Le Mans has usually been a pretty good venue for Alex Márquez. He took his first MotoGP podium here in 2020, his rookie year. He also won on a Moto2 bike the year before, and was second in 2017. The Gresini Ducati rider is in the form of his life, and just not making any mistakes. He is probably not the favorite for the championship, or even for the race at Le Mans, but he is certainly the gatekeeper through whom the eventual winner will have to pass.
To finish first…
Starting as favorite has to be Alex’ brother Marc. Marc Márquez has looked all but unbeatable this year, though that “all but” comes with a sizeable caveat. There is one rider who has proved consistently capable of beating Marc Márquez, and that is Marc Márquez himself. The Ducati Lenovo rider has won all five sprints so far, and three of the five Sunday GPs.
But he has also crashed out of two of the Sunday races, through nobody’s fault but his own. In Austin, he tried to pull the bike back right too hard and lost the front. At Jerez, he entered Turn 8 with a fraction too much lean angle and a fraction too much speed. In Spain, at least, he could remount and nab an extra 4 points. So the question is not can Marc Márquez be at the front of the race at Le Mans. It’s whether he can actually stay aboard and cross the line in first.
The big question is whether the test at Jerez was enough for Pecco Bagnaia to find his groove again. The past few weeks has seen a wave of unfounded rumors wash across the internet, based on nothing more than wishful thinking. But Bagnaia has been struggling at the start of the season.
A matter of perspective
Or has he? The factory Ducati rider has 120 points so far this season, compared to 91 points at the same time last year, and 94 points in 2023. For Bagnaia to start the season off badly is par for the course. And yes, he trails Alex Márquez by 20 points, and teammate Marc by 19. But he trailed Jorge Martin by 38 points at the same point in the season last year. And there are still 17 rounds to go.
Le Mans has been a good track for Pecco Bagnaia, but not one he has won at in MotoGP. He started from pole in 2022 and 2023, crashing out both times (the second time ending in hilarious handbags in the gravel trap with Maverick Viñales), third place in 2024 his best result. But the French Grand Prix will be another round of building confidence and preparing for the coming rounds where he is stronger, places like Silverstone and Mugello.
Dark horse for Ducati at Le Mans is probably Fabio Di Giannantonio. The Pertamina VR46 rider is looking strong so far this season, and had a good race here in 2024 as well. Teammate Franco Morbidelli would normally also be a factor, but he may still feeling the after effects of his crash at Jerez.
Home boys
Who can challenge the might of the Ducatis? It feels like it could be a strong weekend for the home riders. Johann Zarco goes from strength to strength now that the Honda RC213V has become an accomplished motorcycle. It still has glaring shortcomings, but some of the things you need to be fast at Le Mans, like stopping and turning, it does really well.
And Zarco is very solid at Le Mans. He has a pole and three podiums at his home track, and is capable of handling the pressure of 110,000 French fans screaming him on. Zarco’s time at LCR Honda has been very good for him, and he has grown into his role as development rider for HRC. In his current form, he should be on for a top five.
As could be his compatriot Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman arrives at Le Mans fresh off pole and a podium at Jerez. He was quick at the test, and tried a new engine which felt good and gave him more top end power without sacrificing much in terms of feel. Like the Honda, the Yamaha M1 has taken a big step forward in 2025, and is showing signs of being genuinely competitive.
Quartararo also has a pole and a couple of podiums on the Yamaha at Le Mans. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider has momentum for the first time in a long time, and can start to dream of being at the pointy end again. A podium is probably a bit too much to ask, but he shouldn’t be too far away.
Le Mans could also be good for Jack Miller. The Prima Pramac Yamaha won here in 2021, then finished second in 2022. Those 2017 memories have been erased, or at least put on the back burner, and if conditions are right for the Yamaha, the Australian could cause trouble for the riders hoping to be near the front.
Stop and go to Mattighofen
If the layout of Le Mans suits the Honda, it suits the KTMs even better. The one thing the KTM does well is stop and go. And with fewer long corners, there should be less chance for the vibration which is upsetting the KTMs so much to start.
All eyes will be on Pedro Acosta, first and foremost. The Red Bull KTM Factory rider is fresh off arm pump surgery, and has been given permission to travel to Le Mans by his doctors in Barcelona. He still has to pass a medical on Thursday, but if his doctors passed him fit to fly to France, he has a very good chance of passing that. Perhaps at Le Mans we will get the first glimpse of just how much arm pump has been holding him back.
Brad Binder made good use of the Jerez test to find some of the edge grip he has been missing this year. The South African has a sprint podium from 2023, and has not been far off previously. If the improvements he found at Jerez work, and he can use them here, then Le Mans could be a strong race for the Red Bull KTM Factory rider.
If you had to choose a KTM rider to put your money on, it would probably be Maverick Viñales, though. The Tech3 rider has been remarkable so far in 2025. Robbed of a podium due to a tire pressure infraction in Qatar, he went on to finish fourth in Jerez. At the test, he was working on himself, understanding the bike better, finding ways to go faster.
And Viñales is outstanding at Le Mans. A regular front runner, he took his first ever grand prix victory here in 2011, in just his fourth start on a 125cc GP bike. He had another Moto3 podium, two podiums in MotoGP, and a sprint podium last year. He was in contention for a strong finish in 2023, until he collided with Pecco Bagnaia early in the race. Viñales is the darkest of horses here, and worth keeping a very close eye on.
Stable genius
What about Aprilia? The riders on the RS-GP are still struggling with stability, especially in braking and acceleration, which is going to be a problem. But they have a couple of riders with a strong record here, Marco Bezzecchi having won here in 2023, and Ai Ogura was second in Moto2 last year. Ogura is looking particularly convincing, and is a rider to watch.
All this is well and good, of course, until the weather gods decide to have their say. If the race is dry, we could be in for a thrilling race, with a strong role for home heroes Zarco and Quartararo. If the race is wet, well anything goes. And that too has its charm.
Whatever the weather, though, the grandstands will be packed. The race is sold out, as it is every year, and the fans will be kept entertained. Le Mans is always a spectacle. Guaranteed.
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