More from a press release issued by Aprilia Racing:
Aprilia Racing writes a new page of history with a podium lockout in Le Mans. Jorge Martin wins his first race on the RS-GP in a comeback ride, Marco Bezzecchi second. Trackhouse MotoGP Team’s Ai Ogura completes a historic all-Aprilia podium for the first time in top class.
The weekend on the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit ended with a historic result for Aprilia Racing as they achieve their first podium lockout in MotoGP.
After starting from the seventh spot on the grid, Jorge Martín was protagonist of an extraordinary comeback ride which allowed him to take his first victory with Aprilia Racing at no less than 588 days from his last MotoGP win (Mandalika 2024). Martín closed out the weekend with a brace – winning the sprint race and the long race – thereby tying the result achieved in Le Mans in 2024. Furthermore, the result today is his ninth win in the top class and his first without starting from the front two rows.
Marco Bezzecchi finished second after riding a solid and intelligent race, rounding out the Aprilia factory team’s one-two. This is Bezzecchi’s fifth consecutive podium since the beginning of the season, making him the first rider to achieve this feat since 2015 (a record previously set by Valentino Rossi).
Ai Ogura also put in an outstanding performance. The Trackhouse MotoGP Team rider finished the race third, rounding out a historic, all-Aprilia podium.
This is Aprilia Racing’s first podium lockout in MotoGP, as well as their fourth brace in the top class for the factory team (since Montmeló 2023, Goîania 2026, and COTA 2026) and their seventh consecutive podium in top class. With today’s success, Aprilia Racing now lies at 306 wins in World Championship Motorcycle Racing.
Jorge Martin: “I am truly happy. At the start, I didn’t think I’d be able to battle for the win, but I never let up. Aprilia is giving me what I need and my confidence is growing day by day. Now it is important to continue working in this direction to improve even more.”
Marco Bezzecchi: “It was a good weekend overall, despite the difficulties. I’m pleased because I took a spot on the front row in qualifying and finished on the podium in the sprint race and in the long race. I tried to stay focused and to ride without making mistakes. I gave one hundred percent, but Jorge had a little more.”
Massimo Rivola – Aprilia CEO: “It was a historic day with three Aprilias on the podium for the first time. It is particularly thrilling to see Jorge so strong here in Le Mans, where exactly one year ago, he thought he might be leaving us, and it’s also great to see Marco so competitive and mature. And then, seeing Ai’s podium is also a relief after what happened in Austin. Noale’s racing division is doing a truly extraordinary job and I think this is proper recognition for a working team led so admirably by Fabiano Sterlacchini.”
More from a press release issued by Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing:
Di Giannantonio is fourth in Le Mans and confirms his Top3 in the World Standing. The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team ends the French GP in fourth place with Fabio Di Giannantonio, who confirms his Top3 place in the World Standing. Franco Morbidelli is fourteenth.
The French GP ends on a positive note for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, which secures the fourth place with Fabio Di Giannantonio in Sunday’s race: he’s the best Ducati rider at the finish line and confirms his Top3 place in the World Standing. Franco Morbidelli recovers some positions, and he is fourteenth at the chequered flag.
Di Giannantonio – who started from the front row – had a solid race and he was in the podium fight right from the opening laps. Fabio showed a good pace during all the 27 laps playing again a key role with great overtakes. The rider from Rome crossed the finish line in fourth place, confirming himself as the best Ducati rider at the end of the French GP. With today’s result, Di Giannantonio is in Top3 in the World Standing with 84 points.
It was a challenging Sunday for Morbidelli, who had a difficult start from the sixth row: lap after lap, Franco managed to recover some position with a little comeback in the final stages of the race. The Italian Brazilian rider crossed the finish line in fourteenth place after dropping one position in the final laps. With the result of the French GP, Morbidelli is fifteenth in the World Standing with 27 points.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team is back on track this week for the Catalunya GP, which will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya from 15th to 17th May.
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO: “I am very happy with the work of my team and mine, because we did the maximum today. In the race, we tried to keep the change we did this morning and it’s always difficult to confirm it in the few laps of the warm up. But the guys did an incredible job, and this helped me a lot in the race. At the start, I realized I was struggling more than the riders at the front, so I would have given the 120% to stay with them. So, I decided to manage a bit and try to do the maximum in terms of consistency. Overall, I am happy, we lost some points in the championship, but we confirm the third place. In Jerez test we worked well to try to fill the gap and here in Le Mans we took the best direction for us, but there’s still some work to do because today we were only fourth.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI: “Today, I couldn’t be fast as I wanted and I was locked in the traffic far behind. Overall, we’re still struggling to manage the new package, but the positive note is that we completed the race getting some points and we collected some important information. Laps and data can show more the problems; this is important and what we need to keep improving. We continue our work and I am sure we will find a way to be back at the front.”
PABLO NIETO: “The Le Mans weekend was positive, I think we are working very well. With Diggia, we secured the fourth place in today’s race, it’s a pity just for the start of yesterday’s Sprint. But in Qualifying, we were fourth and we proved to play always key roles, that is the most important thing. Of course, when you’re not on the podium, it’s a bit bittersweet, but we must say that we did a great job. With Franky, we work to find the perfect feeling, because he deserves to be more in front. But I think that we found something that can be good for the next race in Barcelona. We keep working in this direction.”
More from a press release issued by KTM:
Top five again for Acosta as Red Bull KTM sign-off French MotoGP.
Round five of 2026 MotoGP circulated the popular site of Le Mans and in front of another sold-out crowd of more than 112,000 spectators on Sunday and over 300,000 for the Grand Prix. Pedro Acosta was the highest ranked KTM RC16 racer with 5th position.
Highlights and key moments from race day at Le Mans:
- Pedro Acosta pushes the limits with a Grand Prix podium in reach and closes to within 1 point of the world championship top three after Le Mans
- Enea Bastianini logs his second highest race finish of 2026 with 7th place in France and two KTM RC16s post top ten results
- Grand Prix points in Moto3™ for the KTM GP Academy with Valentin Perrone in P12 and Brian Uriarte in P15 after both riders crash in a soaked, shortened race and remounted to reach the flag
The weather shifted for race day at the 39th French Grand Prix at Le Mans and the 4.1km Bugatti circuit was cooler, cloudier and with the constant threat of showers. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing started the 27-laps on Sunday afternoon with Pedro Acosta 4th on the grid and Brad Binder in 20th. Red Bull KTM Tech3 watched Enea Bastianini launch from 13th and Jonas Folger, replacing Maverick Viñales for his first Grand Prix outing in three years, in 21st.
Acosta repeated his attacking and proactive approach shown in Saturday’s Sprint (where he classified 4th) to make his presence felt inside the top three in the opening laps. The Spaniard then maintained his pace while trying to fight off attention from pursuers that lasted until the final corners. Pedro was able to confirm P5 for his third top five result of the season – less than three seconds from the win – and brings him to within one point of 3rd place in the world championship table.
Bastianini had a busy grand prix with close company in mid-pack. He was able to pull free of the rider chasing him in 8th, and his standing of 7th represents his third top ten finish in a row. Folger completed the race distance in 16th while Binder charged back to the edge of the first ten runners before losing traction into Turn 7 with six laps to go.
The Grand Prix of Catalunya at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will happen next weekend for round six.
Pedro Acosta, 5th and 4th in the championship: “We didn’t manage the tires like the others. It’s clear we need to improve a few things but I’m happy for my best weekend in Le Mans so far. Also happy with my start; that was quite nice, and also the first 10-12 laps. The second 10, the rear dropped. It looks like the bike is better than we had in Jerez and I’m happy to be back near the front again.”
Brad Binder, DNF and 13th in the championship: “I locked the front wheel going into turn 7 and the change of direction. It was a fast crash. I braked a bit later and with a bit more pressure. It was just too much. Today I was a lot faster but not where I need to be. The positive is that this morning in warm-up I was quicker and in the race also [than Saturday]. I felt like I was on my way forward. Everything felt easier.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Difficult to be really happy about the results today even if a 5th position and 7th are quite positive. The podium was not far away. The gap to the top was quite small and we definitely made steps compared to last year. Of course, the competition is so close in MotoGP so it is time to analyze the weekend well and the work done and to focus on our weak areas. So, the top five for Pedro and the top seven for Enea is good…but we want more. Brad’s race as well, until the crash, also gave us hope for more progress. We have to thank Jonas for his solid work. He hasn’t been on a GP bike much and we appreciated his professionalism.”
More from a press release issued by Monster Energy Yamaha:
Fabio Quartararo Pushes to P6 in French GP as Álex Rins Takes P12.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo had a superb start to the 27-lap Grand Prix of France. It proved key to him securing sixth place. Álex Rins had the opposite happen to him. He had ups and downs during the race but still finished in P12.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo had the fans in Le Mans cheering him on as he rode to a solid sixth place in the Grand Prix of France. Teammate Álex Rins emerged from a full-on battle with multiple rivals in P12.
Quartararo, sporting a special Le Mans livery, started from P5 and launched to P2 in a matter of a few corners. He was riding both aggressively and defensively but had to let Pedro Acosta through at the end of lap 2. Four more rivals passed El Diablo over the next 8 laps. With Francesco Bagnaia crashing out on lap 16 and Joan Mir on lap 20, Quartararo crossed the finish line in P6, 7.756s from first.
Rins started his 150th premier class race from P11 but fell back on the opening lap. As Alex Marquez crashed out and Diogo Moreira dropped down the order, the number 42 was in P17 by lap 3. He spent the remainder of the race battling with the Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP teammates and Franco Morbidelli. Multiple DNFs by other rivals had Rins take the chequered flag in P12, 32.343s from the winner.
Today’s results see Quartararo in 16th place in the championship standings with 26 points. Rins is in 19th with 7 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP are in 10th position in the team classifications with 33 points, and Yamaha is fifth in the constructor rankings with 29 points.
The team will now directly travel to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain for the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalunya, held next week from 15-17 May.
Fabio Quartararo: “We had to be really smooth on braking, but that’s also were I can make the difference. I think today was the first race in a long time that I felt like this. I could push myself at 100%, and I think that was quite nice, especially on the opening lap. Everything was more close, it was easier to overtake, and I could feel the limit better, so yeah, it was nice. Let’s see what happens at other track layouts.”
Alex Rins: “It was really tough. In the middle of the race, I couldn’t engage the right gear. Though it resolved itself later on, it cost me some positions. It‘s a shame the race weekend ended like this after a good Friday. Now we will focus on Barcelona.”
Massimo Meregalli – Team Director: “It’s been a GP of two tales for us again. Starting with the positive: Fabio made the decision to go with the soft front tyre, aiming to exploit it on the opening lap to get as much towards the front as possible. This tyre choice kept us on the edge of our seats as we were afraid the tyre would drop, but in the end Fabio made it work all the way to the end. He got the maximum out of our package today, and this sixth place is a very encouraging result for him and the team. Álex, on the other hand, had a difficult outing again. He had some ups and downs throughout the race. We will analyse all the data as we prepare for next week’s Catalan GP.”
More from a press release issued by KTM Tech3:
Bastianini brings home seventh for Tech3 at French Grand Prix.
Red Bull KTM Tech3 bagged solid points on home soil in Round 5 of the 2026 MotoGP™ World Championship at Le Mans, with composed performances from both sides of the garage.
Enea Bastianini produced a strong charge through the field in Sunday’s 27-lap Grand Prix of France to secure seventh place, while team-mate Jonas Folger delivered a steady ride to finish just outside the points in sixteenth.
Both Tech3 riders made strong starts, each gaining a position during the opening lap. Bastianini quickly worked his way into the Top Ten with a decisive move, before an early crash in the pack promoted him to ninth.
As the race settled, the Italian found his rhythm and began to hunt down Joan Mir having already gained five places. With a tightly packed group battling ahead, the Italian capitalised on the fight to reduce the gap further.
Meanwhile, Folger kept a calm approach, moving up to P18 as further incidents promoted the #94 rider up the field.
Now running in eighth, Bastianini continued to apply pressure as Mir and Fabio Quartararo battled for sixth. A crash for Mir in the closing stages handed ‘La Bestia’ seventh and a further incident promoted Folger to P16 – rounding out a collected ride from the German after an early crash in Saturday’s Sprint.
A solid result for Red Bull KTM Tech3 in front of the home crowd at Le Mans sees Bastianini hold tenth in the standings, with the team sitting eighth – tied on 39 points with LCR Honda – as the championship heads to Barcelona next week (15-17 May).
Enea Bastianini: “It was a good comeback today. Yesterday I crashed twice, so the main goal was just to recover positions and bring the bike home. In the end, seventh isn’t bad, but I expected a bit more.
“With the soft rear tyre, it was difficult to push. There was a lot of movement, and for me it’s hard to manage that instability. Especially at the end of the race, I wasn’t as fast as I usually am. Still, it’s a good result for the team, so I’m happy with that. It’s not easy, because the competition is very strong, but we know the areas that we need to work on. On my side, I need to keep working on qualifying – I’ve improved a bit, but we still need more.”
Jonas Folger: “It was a tough race, but the goal was to complete the distance and keep learning. I made good progress up to qualifying, but in the race I couldn’t match that pace and struggled with comfort and physical fatigue, especially in my left shoulder.
“Overall, the weekend was still better than expected. I came in with a focus on understanding the bike, but after yesterday’s crash I lacked some confidence and today it was full focus on getting the laps in and finishing. I want to say thank you to the Tech3 guys for being so patient and giving me the room to improve at such a high level.”
Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “Well, a positive Sunday here for Red Bull KTM Tech3. We knew Bastianini had the pace to do a strong weekend. Unfortunately, we somehow missed the mark a little bit in qualifying, but starting 14th on the grid and finishing in P7 is obviously a great race. To me this just confirms Enea is in good shape at the moment so we can look ahead to Barcelona with a lot of confidence.
“On the other side of the garage, we’re happy with Jonas’ performance. Nobody can really understand how tough it is to jump back on a MotoGP bike after so long, but it was a consistent race today. He didn’t make any mistakes and got close to the points, so thank you, Jonas, for your help. Now the whole team is going to pack everything and move to Barcelona for the race next weekend.”
More from a press release issued by BK8 Gresini:
Fermin remontada, Alex out on lap 2.
- RACE DAY
FERMIN ALDEGUER 9º
ALEX MARQUEZ NC
- STANDINGS
ALEX MARQUEZ 8º (55 points)
FERMIN ALDEGUER 14º (27 points)
FERMIN ALDEGUER #54: “Considering how we started the weekend, finishing with this result is definitely very positive. In the race, maybe I could have done a little more, but starting so far back forced us into a different strategy because of the tyre choice. The soft front tyre allowed us to make up a lot of positions, but in the final third of the race we no longer had enough grip to try and attack Raul Fernandez.”
ALEX MARQUEZ #73: “I probably took Turn 3 a bit too slowly because I was worried the front tyre was still not fully up to temperature, and then I applied slightly too much throttle in Turn 4 and lost the front. A stupid mistake on my part, but fortunately I’m fine. It’s great to have Barcelona coming up very soon so we can make up for this race.”
More from a press release issued by Honda HRC:
Tenth in trying French GP for Marini, Mir crashes while chasing top five.
Joan Mir looked to make the most of a dry race day in Le Mans, once again fighting for top Honda honours with Luca Marini salvaging tenth from a complicated weekend.
With cooler temperatures predicted and the threat of rain always on the horizon as the MotoGP World Championship field lined up on the grid, Luca Marini elected to run the soft front tyre. This choice allowed the #10 to make up a handful of positions off the start, but as the ambient temperatures increased the Italian switched to conservation mode as his tyre life began to fade. Despite lacking front stability, Marini still pushed until the very end to catch Aldeguer for ninth place and ended the 27-lap race just 0.1s back.
Tenth place moves Marini to 33 World Championship points, six behind Bastianini and the top ten overall.
Starting from sixth on the grid, Joan Mir immediately made his presence known as he put pressure on the front runners. Resuming his race-long battle with the likes of Quartararo from Saturday, the #36 stayed locked into the battle for the top five as he traded places with the home hero and Ogura for multiple laps. Biding his time, Mir kept the pressure on Quartararo and slipped past into sixth with eight laps remaining. Unfortunately, a heavy fall would follow on the next lap, ending Mir’s race and resulting in a laceration which required stitches to his right hand at the circuit medical centre.
Now barely a few days rest between the French and the Catalan GP, Round 6 starting at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday, May 15.
Luca Marini: “A big pity today, my front tyre choice was the wrong one – who was expecting the sun in the race?! It was difficult to arrive at the end because there was a lot of movement by the end, on the other hand with the hard at the start of the race was on the limit because it was cold before the sun arrived. It’s positive that we finished tenth and still got some points after a weekend with ups and downs, but it’s not what we want anymore. There’s work to be done and in this race, we struggled more with race pace than other rounds this year.”
Joan Mir: “Not the way we wanted to finish a really strong weekend for us because I think a top five result was there at the end. It was a crash I was not expecting. I had the hard front, able to stay behind Fabio safely, but when I passed him I had to be very aggressive to keep heat in the tyre. Under straight braking I lost the front early and I suffered a very hard crash, and I leave with a couple of stitches in my hand. Overall I am OK which is the most important thing.”
More from a press release issued by Castrol Honda LCR:
- Determined to fight for the best possible result, the Frenchman faced some difficulties after the opening laps.
- In order to avoid crashing after a contact with another rider, he ran slightly wide and lost positions, forcing him to recover ground once again.
- In the end, he managed to stay focused, avoid mistakes, and cross the line in 11th place, scoring points and gathering valuable information ahead of next week’s race.
More from a press release issued by Prima Pramac Yamaha:
Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Scores Double Points Finish in Challenging French Grand Prix.
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Jack Miller both finished inside the points at Le Mans, marking the first double points finish of the season for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP and an encouraging sign of the progress being made with the new Yamaha project.
While the final positions are still far from the ambitions of the team and riders, the result represents the first time this season — and the first time for the new Yamaha project — that both Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP riders have scored points in the same Grand Prix.
Beyond the final classification, the weekend offered encouraging confirmation that the project is beginning to move in the right direction. The gap to the midfield continues to shrink, the understanding of the bike is improving race after race, and the work carried out by the riders, technicians and engineers is starting to translate into more concrete results on track. Le Mans therefore closes with a modest but meaningful step forward for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP — an important boost of confidence as the team continues building the foundations of a long-term project.
I knew it was going to be difficult in the group, but historically I‘ve usually been able to manage the soft front quite well with my riding style. Unfortunately, with around fifteen laps to go I really started struggling a lot with it and in the end it wasn‘t the right choice for today.
Still, it was one of those decisions that could also have worked if the conditions had changed a little differently. It‘s a pity because this weekend we were definitely closer to the others, but still not close enough. We need to keep working and continue building from here.”
At the same time, seeing the incredible job Fabio did throughout the weekend makes me understand two things very clearly: first, that I still have a lot to improve myself, and second, that the bike also still has room to improve because obviously with the right setup the potential is there.
I will continue studying the data carefully and maybe in Barcelona we can even try starting from a setup closer to Fabio‘s to better understand if that direction could also work for me.
For the race we chose the soft front and soft rear tyres. The beginning was actually not bad and I felt quite good, but towards the end the front tyre dropped a lot and it became more difficult to manage.”
Of course, the gap to the front is still significant, but race after race we are reducing that distance, and this is the most encouraging sign. It‘s not only something positive for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP, but also for the entire Yamaha project, especially considering the great performance Quartararo showed both yesterday and today. He was consistently fast and not far from the leading group, and that is a very important indication of the progress being made.
The bike is improving and we are improving together with it, so I believe we are moving in the right direction.”
More from a press release issued by Pro Honda LCR:
- Starting from 18th on the grid and after scoring points in the Sprint, Moreira was determined to fight back and make a comeback on French soil.
- While battling for a top-10 position, the rider ran slightly wide and ended up in the gravel, fortunately without consequences.
- Despite today’s result, Moreira had a solid weekend, learning session after session and gathering valuable experience and information.
More from a press release issued by Ducati Lenovo:
Francesco Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team forced into early retirement in the French Grand Prix due to a crash.
The Ducati Lenovo Team completed the Grand Prix of France at Le Mans. Francesco Bagnaia, after an encouraging performance, crashed out while running in second place.
Following a less-than-perfect start from pole position, Bagnaia found himself in fifth place four corners into the race. Pecco managed to make his way up to second position — which he took on lap seven — before trying to bridge the gap to then-leader Bezzecchi. At the start of lap sixteen, however, while less than a second behind his rival, he tucked the front at turn three.
As the fifth Grand Prix of the season draws to a close, Marc Márquez is seventh in the championship standings with 57 points. Bagnaia is ninth, 14 points behind his teammate. The Ducati Lenovo Team is fifth in the teams’ standings (100 points), while Ducati sits second in the constructors’ championship (128 points).
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action already this Friday, May 15th, for the opening day of action of the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalunya at Montmeló.
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – DNF: “The weekend overall was a positive one: we started strongly and worked well, and we were fast in every session while improving constantly. We were in the podium battle today despite a small issue at the start, but then we encountered a minor setback that made me lose confidence with the front-end. I still tried to push and maintain the pace, but the front tucked. These things can happen. We have a clear idea of what we need to work on and we’ll do so ahead of the upcoming races.”
