MotoGP – The 125 French Grand Prix lap by lap –

The 125 French Grand Prix lap by lap

MotoGP - The 125 French Grand Prix lap by lap -

The French hopefuls, badly engaged during the tests, will have to make their mastery speak to shine in front of an audience won over to their cause: will the uncertain weather give a boost to Mike di Meglio, eager for good results ? Turn based 125.

Friday: first qualifying session
Under the sun, Sergio Gadea sets the best time ahead of Bradley Smith, Stefan Bradl, Simone Corsi, Mike di Meglio, Esteve Rabat, Pol Espargaro, Joan Olive, Nicolas Terol, Sandro Cortese, Gabor Talmacsi, Scott Redding and Alexis Masbou.

Zoom on…

The absence of the French wild card Kevin Meco, "without justification on his part", regrets Jacques Bolle, vice president of the FFM

The French wild cards Cyril Carrillo (read) is 29th, Steven le Coquen 35th, Valentin Debise 36th and Louis Rossi 37th: a result difficult to digest for the titular rider of the French Motorcycling Federation (FFM)…

Saturday: second qualifying session
Bradley Smith steals pole position under the nose and the beard of the French pilots: it must be said that the tricolor hope of the category, Mike di Meglio, fell at the end of the session, demoting to sixth place … Behind the English line up Sandro Cortese, Nicolas Terol, Simone Corsi, Gabor Talmacsi, Mike di Meglio, Sergio Gadea, Stefan Bradl, Pol Espargaro, Esteve Rabat, Joan Olive and Scott Redding.

Alexis Mabou is 24th, Steven le Coquen 29th, Louis Rossi 31st, Cyril Carrillo 32nd and Valentin Debise 34th.

Zoom on…

The many falls that punctuated this session : besides that of Mike, Cyril Carrillo fell on tightening as well as Robin Lasser and especially the unfortunate Valentin Debise: his KTM benefiting from a specific engine, the factory will not be able to repair its engine in time for the race, thus mortgaging the young pilot’s chances…

Sunday: race !
Departure : Sergio Gadea takes advantage of his pole position to emerge first from the starting line. The 23-year-old Spaniard is closely followed by German Stefan Bradl, Esteve Rabat, Nicolas Terol, Simone Corsi, Marc Marquez and Mike di Meglio. The track is dry, but big threatening clouds stagnate above the Bugatti…

As soon as the Dunlop chicane, no less than four drivers go to the mat, including the unfortunate Cyril Carrillo, Dominique Aegerter and Hugo Van Den Berg … In the confusion, Alexis Masbou is forced to shoot straight with his Loncin, thus losing many places.

"It’s all my fault", Cyril Carrillo will specify at the end of the race:"I lost the front, I trained other riders and had to end up returning to the pits, selector broken"…

Braking the Blue Esses, Stefan Bradl tries to pass Gadea but the Spaniard has the last word and comes out at the head of the chicane !

2nd round : Sergio Gadea crosses the timing line in first position followed by Bradl, Rabat, Terol, Corsi, Talmacsi, Di Meglio, Marquez, Redding, Koyama, Olive, Cortese, Masbou, Ranseder and Webb. Louis Rossi is 26th, Steven le Coquen 29th and Cyril Carrillo 35th following his fall.

The reigning world champion, Gabor Talmacsi, who had a bad start when the lights went out, surprised the young Nicolas Terol at the exit of the Green Garage before putting the brakes on Esteve Rabat at the entrance of the blue Esses! The battle promises to be close between all these animators in the eighth-liter category !

3rd round : things are jostling at the entrance of the formidable Dunlop! Nicolas Terol tries the outside on his own teammate and passes him manly at the entrance of the chicane !

Gabor Talmacsi – obviously in good shape – achieved a superb interior on Stefan Bradl, thus stealing second position from him. Just behind, Rabat is in turn overwhelmed by Terol when braking the Green Garage: the 22-year-old Spaniard seems well on the way to pick up the leading men !

Stuck in the peloton, young British hopeful Bradley Smith grabs place after place and closely follows Alexis Masbou’s Loncin.

3rd round : Gadea tackles this loop in the lead with his own teammate Talmacsi in his seat back, followed by Bradl, Rabat, Corsi, Terol, Di Meglio, Olive, Marquez, Redding, Koyama and Ranseder. Alexis Masbou is 14th and Louis Rossi 26th, ahead of guest driver Steven le Coquen.

4th round : literally unleashed, Terol and his Aprilia absorb Bradl and in the process the current n ° 1 Gabor Talmacsi, before taking the best on the leader at the entrance of the Green Garage! Gadea takes advantage of her best top speed to take the lead again on the short stretch between the corner dedicated to the Kawasaki grandstand (read) and the braking of the Chemin aux boeufs !

Just behind, Esteve Rabat took the opportunity to infiltrate in front of Gabor Talmacsi. Nicolas Terol manages to overtake Gadea under the brakes of the Esses Bleues, while Rabat returns to the two leading men thanks to braking from beyond the grave !

5th round : Nicolas Terol leads a peloton made up of Gadea, Rabat, Talmacsi, Corsi, Bradl, Di Meglio and Joan Olive. The French at n ° 63 seems to be on the reserve and adopts a defensive strategy: "at first, I just wanted to stay in the rhythm of the leading men in order to observe and take my marks", the Toulouse pilot confided.

Sergio Gadea shifts from Terol’s aspiration and tries to pass him at the start of Dunlop: but nothing to do, the 19-year-old Spaniard retains his leadership by applying to take care of his braking at the entrance of chicanery. Alexis Masbou and his Loncin have demoted to 18th position.

Sergio Gadea finally won the brakes on the Chemin aux Boeufs, giving Talmacsi ideas, who in turn passed Terol! Marc Marquez and Scott Redding go to the mat at the exit of the same turn.

6th and 7th rounds : the fight continues in the leading group and positions are exchanged over the turns, which benefits Mike di Meglio: the Frenchman comes back to fifth position just behind Esteve Rabat. Bradley Smith, 10th, made a breathtaking comeback and set lap times a quarter of a second faster than race leader Gadea !

8th round : Gadea tries to escape but behind him, Talmacsi, Terol, Rabat, Bradl and Di Meglio do not hear it that way. Joan Olive is solid 7th ahead of Corsi, Espargaro (author of the fastest lap in the race), Smith, Iannone, Cortese, Ranseder and Webb.

Stefan Bradl, Gabor Talmacsi and Esteve Rabat are three abreast when braking the Chemin aux boeufs, but it is ultimately the German team Grizzly who comes out on top! Motivated by this feat of arms, the pilot (18th in the 2007 championship) cuts croupiers in Gadea and erases him at the entrance of the Blue Esses !

9th round : Pol Espargaro continued his ascent and again set the fastest lap in the race in 1’43.918. The fight between the two teammates of the Bancaja Aspar team is at its peak: it is finally Talmacsi who seizes the second place !

10th round : Stefan Bradl precedes a little less than a tenth Talmacsi, then follows Gadea, Rabat, Terol, Corsi, Di Meglio, Espargaro, Olive, Smith, Cortese, Ranseder, Webb and Nakagami. American Stevie Bonsey suffers a heavy fall in the Dunlop chicane.

11th and 12th rounds : the nine leading drivers are fighting at loggerheads and it is still impossible to determine which will cross the finish line as the winner! Mike di Meglio was passed by the very young Pol Espargaro, while Nicolas Terol took over the best on Gadea and Talmacsi: the Spaniard will take advantage of this to take command from Bradl.

A few drops of rain appear in the Dunlop: one of the 275 marshals present all around the track presents the change of grip flag to the drivers.

13th and 14th laps : Joan Olive is now in first position, taking advantage of the arrival of the rain to burn politeness to his competitors! The surprising Terol, Bradl, Talmacsi, Di Meglio, Corsi, Rabat, Espargaro and Smith follow. Alexis Masbou is 17th, Louis Rossi 22nd and Steven le Coquen 23rd.

15th round : the rain begins to gain in intensity … Joan Olive and his Derbi take the opportunity to widen a slight gap on his pursuers: almost a second and a half now separates him from Stefan Bradl and Nicolas Terol !

The pace still slows down … Nakagami and Masbou go to the mat on an increasingly delicate track! The clerk of the course then decides to raise the red flag, thus interrupting the race nine laps from the finish! The start of the second round will be established in relation to the classification preceding the flag presentation round..

Second start on five laps, race declared "wet" : Esteve Rabat is the quickest to emerge from his position, but falls at the exit of Dunlop. Joan Olive completely misses her take-off from first place and loses several positions.

Talmacsi took the opportunity to take the lead in the race ahead of Terol, Smith, Espargaro, Di Meglio, Bradl, Zanetti, Iannone and Joan Olive.

2nd round : the current world champion approaches this second round in front of Nicolas Terol, Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith and Mike di Meglio. The rain redoubled in intensity and our "frenchie" took the opportunity to increase the pace !

3rd round : at the end of the connection, the Hungarian makes a mistake and cedes the leadership of this anthology race to Nicolas Terol, who is passed at the start of the Dunlop by Bradley Smith…

Mike di Meglio goes second but thanks to the addition of the times of the two parts of the races provided for by the regulations, he takes the lead, Joan Olive being more than a second behind !

4th round : Mike di Meglio signs the fastest lap in the race and goes hunting Bradley Smith: will the Toulouse driver be able to sign the first victory for a French driver on the French GP since 1982? Follow Nicolas Terol, Pol Espargaro and Andrea Iannone.

The n ° 63 goes inside to Smith at the entrance of the Green Garage and takes the lead of the race for the first time! The audience is in a trance, standing despite the rain !

Last round : Di Meglio signs the fastest lap in the race and is heading towards his second victory in GP 125! The Frenchman assures halfway, but his pursuer Bradley Smith is too far to try anything.

Mike di Meglio imposes himself with the manner and raises his fist while crossing the line! It had been 26 years since a Frenchman had won at home: the public is jubilant in front of the feat !

"It is simply beautiful", will whisper" Magic Mike "at the end of the race:"I’m really happy to have won at home and to have made the Marseillaise resonate! The bike was not perfect, but I managed to keep the lead over the other riders! I was afraid of falling, but this time I managed to manage my race. Thank you to my team, my family and everyone who supported me !"

Finally, this victory allows Mike to take the lead of the world championship with 74 points ahead of Nicolas Terol (66) and Simone Corsi (62).

Rank 125

1- Mr. DI MEGLIO 6- S. BRADL 11- S. CORTESE
2- B. SMITH 7- L. ZANETTI 12- P. TUTUSAUS
3- N. TEROL 8- J. OLIVE 13- S. CORSI
4- P. ESPARGARO 9- R. DE ROSA 14- G. TALMACSI
5- A. IANNONE 10- R. KRUMMENACHER 15- A. MASBOU

Louis ROSSI: 19th

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR

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