It took Jorge Lorenzo less than a few corners on lap one to pass both Repsol Honda riders, Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner in one single overtaking pass to grab the lead on a wet and difficult Le Mans track.
The Yamaha rider then cleared out and dominate the entire race with a highly spectacular pace and completely uncaring of the tricky conditions that caught so many riders out in the previous classes to fly under the chequered flag with a massive almost ten second margin and also taking an eight points lead in the standings.
Sharing the podium with Lorenzo was a resurgent Valentino Rossi who took his Ducati Desmosedici to second place and taking his best finish since he’s been with the Bologna manufacturer, while beating his long time arch rival Casey Stoner.
If Lorenzo cleared out it in a race of his own, it was Rossi who reminded everyone who had forgetten him, why MotoGP racing can still be exciting as the former 9 time world champion had a strong start.
The Italian battled it out first with the Yamaha Tech3 duo Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso, and managed to break clear of them once the problems with his foggy visor cleared and began to chase after Stoner and then caught him.
For the final five laps Rossi would be all over the Repsol Honda rider.
He tried twice to pass Stoner only to be immediately overtaken, but on the final lap he dived down the inside at the first chicane and closing all the doors leaving an apparent struggling Stoner the third place on the podium, and unable to retaliate.
Dani Pedrosa who lead the race for the first corners started to fade as one by one the riders started passing him, but he inherited fourth after Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso who had both battled with Rossi for third, crashed out.
First Crutchlow at the Dunlop when he came in hot and just a few laps later Dovizioso, both were able to remount and finish 7th and 8th respectively.
The Yamaha Tech3 riders errors also gifted Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden with their fifth and sixth positions.
If Hayden hadn’t had a bad start he would have been up front with his battling team mate and the Tech3 duo as his race pace matched theirs.
Hector Barbera was 9th Hector Barbera followed by Alvaro Bautista who closed out the top ten.
James Ellison who until a few days ago could have been replaced by Shane Byrne for the race took his PBM UK Aprilia to 11th after battling it with very impressive Danilo Petrucci until he crashed out with four laps to go and Mattia Pasini, as home boy Randy de Puniet suffered a crash on the start line with his traction control or as he thinks there was something left on the track when Julian Simon pushed his Moto2 bike over the finish line.
Ben Spies endured another torrid race.
The Yamaha factory rider was almost dead last at turn one as he found himself running onto the gravel and then was seen having problems with his clutch.
He pitted with still another problem, a fogged visor, he came back out and finished in a very lowly 16th place.
MotoGP Le Mans race results:01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 28 laps in 49’39.
74302- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 9.
90503- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 11.
29804- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 29.
36105- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 32.
47706- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 32.
84207- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 59.
75908- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1’05.
15209- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1’07.
84610- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1’13.
19311- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 1’26.
66312- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 1’27.
63313- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – 1 lap14- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – 1 lap15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – 1 lap16- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1 lap17- Chris Vermeulen – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – 2 laps18- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – 2 laps