Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

250cc Grand Prix Results:

1. Daniel PEDROSA, Honda, 26 laps, 43:03.338
2. Randy DE PUNIET, Aprilia, -7.711 seconds
3. Toni ELIAS, Honda, -19.233 seconds
4. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Honda, -20.427 seconds
5. Alex DE ANGELIS, Aprilia, -21.175 seconds
6. Anthony WEST, Aprilia, -24.269 seconds
7. Fonsi NIETO, Aprilia, -38.537 seconds
8. Franco BATTAINI, Aprilia, -39.827 seconds
9. Alex DEBON, Honda, -42.589 seconds
10. Joan OLIVE, Aprilia, -47.541 seconds
11. Jakub SMRZ, Honda, -47.874 seconds
12. Chaz DAVIES, Aprilia, -51.623 seconds
13. Hector FAUBEL, Aprilia, -51.813 seconds
14. Naoki MATSUDO, Yamaha, -58.880 seconds
15. Alex BALDOLINI, Aprilia, -63.261 seconds
16. Dirk HEIDOLF, Aprilia, -65.370 seconds
17. Hugo MARCHAND, Aprilia, -65.906 seconds
18. Erwan NIGON, Yamaha, -68.323 seconds
19. Christian GEMMEL, Honda, -79.342 seconds
20. Gregory LEFORT, Aprilia, -81.036 seconds

23. Sebastian PORTO, Aprilia, -9 laps, DNF, crash
24. Arnaud VINCENT, Aprilia, -15 laps, DNF, crash
25. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Aprilia, -16 laps, DNF, mechanical

27. Johan STIGEFELT, Aprilia, -20 laps, DNF, mechanical
28. Roberto ROLFO, Honda, -22 laps, DNF, crash
29. Manuel POGGIALI, Aprilia, -25 laps, DNF, crash


More, from a press release issued by Aprilia Racing:

Alex storms to fifth place in France

Le Mans, 16.5.04



Aprilia Racing rider Alex de Angelis carved his way through the field to claim a brilliant fifth place in today’s 26-lap French 250 GP at the Le Mans track.



Having qualified in 10th position on the third row, the San Marino rider was quickly into his stride at the 4.18km Bugatti circuit and after just four laps he’d already gained four positions, moving into a battle with the second group that featured Toni Elias and Hiroshi Aoyama.



Le Mans is not one of Alex’s favourite tracks, but he showed once again how quickly he has adapted to the more powerful RSW250 after moving from the world 125 championship. He stayed with Elias and Aoyama throughout the rest of the race, and on lap 13 he moved into fifth place when passing Elias. Although he slipped back to sixth on lap 17, Alex continued to push hard and almost claimed fourth on the last lap.



He passed Aoyama but the Japanese rider struck back with just a few corners remaining, and although Alex tried one last effort, he eventually finished fifth to maintain his record of finishing in the top six in his first three world 250 championship races.



“Le Mans is not one of my better tracks but this has been result of the season so far which is very positive. At the end it was the best I could do. All weekend we worked very hard to get the bike set-up to suit my style and to get a good feeling. This result at a place like Le Mans which I don’t like very much has given me a lot of belief for the future, “said de Angelis, who is now looking forward to his home race at Mugello, a circuit where he tested the RSW during the winter. He added: “I really like Mugello and it should be good because it is a track where I have tested the bike before. I really want to do well for the Italian fans.”