Wet weather races bring a lot of tension and excitement to motorcycle racing. With the conditions altered seemingly at random, the riders must adjust to a lack of grip, keeping heat in their tyres against the chill of the elements, and find ways to overtake one another without threatening the safety of everyone involved, to name but a few factors at play. It has been quite some time since we had a properly wet race in MotoGP, but on Sunday in Le Mans that streak came to an end. The heavens opened up, the track was soaked end to end, and a race that promised to be a championship showdown turned into a brutal contest of survival.
The wet weather’s impact was instant, as on just the third corner of the race, Valentino Rossi took a tumble that slid his bike across the chicane and nearly took several other riders with him. His tragic exit was just the beginning; in total, seven riders would end up crashing over the course of the race. What was particularly important in the case of Rossi was who exactly he pushed out wide, as both Vinales and Mir were demoted to the back end of the pack as a result. This appeared to be a perfect opportunity for championship leader Quartararo, as the men running second and third in the title race were struggling to score points.
This was not to be Quartararo’s race, however. Caught out by the conditions, and failing to make any particularly aggressive moves, the Frenchman dropped through the pack to ninth, where he would eventually be caught by both Vinales and Mir. With none of the title protagonists scoring highly – a ninth place finish is worth just seven points, compared to the twenty-five you score for a win – this was a perfect opportunity for other contenders to get back into the chase.
The initial group that broke away were completely unsurprising, given the conditions. Miller, Petrucci and Dovizioso, all known for being strong in wet conditions, were able to race away from the chasing pack, charging into the distance and threatening a Ducati lockout of the podium for the first time in history. It seemed as though the race was decided then and there, with only a few laps completed, but their pace did not last, and soon riders began catching up. The first came in the form of a Suzuki, but not the one many of us were expecting: Alex Rins, fresh off a podium in Catalunya, and itching for another strong finish, began hunting down the boys in red, with Pol Espargaro, Miguel Oliveira and a surprising Alex Marquez following not far behind.
Rins caught up to the lead pack in a short amount of laps, but while catching a Ducati is one thing, passing it is another matter completely. The 2020 model is an incredibly defensive bike, capable of parking itself in the middle of a corner and blocking all modes of passing, so Rins had to get tricky. He eventually made his move, disrupting the flow of all three riders, and got ahead of Miller, but in doing so allowed Dovi and Petrucci to amass a small lead once more. Miller was visibly furious, but shortly after would find himself angrier again, as his bike suffered a mechanical failure and he was forced to retire from what looked like a strong shot at a podium finish.
Rins had looked strong all race, but the Suzuki man didn’t last much longer himself, crashing out just a few laps later. This promoted a surprise rider into podium contention: Alex Marquez, in his first ever wet MotoGP race, after having started the race in eighteenth, now found himself in the top three for the first time. And he wasn’t just in the mix, he was setting consistent fastest laps of the race as the track dried out under him, and soon reeled in Dovizioso. In a somewhat ironic moment, Dovi once again found himself being passed in wet conditions by a Marquez in Repsol colours, and as Alex set off to hunt down race leader Petrucci, Dovi was left to contend with the two KTM riders now behind him, in the forms of Espargaro and Oliveira. Espargaro would eventually make it past him, but Oliveira was perhaps a few laps too late.
Petrucci managed his lead at the front, fending off the final attack of Alex Marquez to secure his first win of the season, and his second MotoGP win in his career. Marquez took his first ever podium, and Pol Espargaro took his third of the season. This now marks 15 different riders to finish a race on the podium this season, in what has been a dramatic few months of motorcycle racing.
So what happens now with the championship? Well, Quartararo has managed to hang on to his lead, even increasing his hold over Mir by an extra two points, but the title race has closed back up again. The two sophomore riders, along with Vinales, had their lead over the likes of Dovizioso significantly diminished, while other riders such as Nakagami, Morbidelli, Miller and Pol Espargaro are still well within reach of the top spot. With five races to go, there is more than enough time for any one of these riders to stake their claim on the title, and only time will tell who ends up victorious in the end.
For now, we can look forward to the next two weekends of racing, as the riders face a double-header in Aragon. And with Marc Marquez, the recent king of the Aragon circuit, still out of contention, we as viewers should be in for a very interesting couple of weeks.
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