Europe 1 with AFP 3:35 p.m., May 15, 2022

The Moto GP French Grand Prix took place this weekend.

It was the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati-Gresini) who won his third victory of the season there on Sunday on the Bugatti circuit of Le Mans, as part of the seventh round of the world championship.

Frenchman Fabio Quartararo came 4th.

The Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati-Gresini) won his third victory of the season at the Grand Prix de France, Sunday on the Bugatti circuit of Le Mans, seventh round of the World Championship still driven by Fabio Quartararo, who came 4th.

Bastianini beat Australian Jack Miller (Ducati) and Spaniard Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia).

In the fight for victory against his compatriot Francesco Bagnaia, who started on pole, Bastianini took advantage of a mistake by the Ducati rider a few laps before the end to take the reins of the race.

Quartararo still top of the league

Bagnaia made another mistake a few moments later, leading to the fall - and then the retirement of the Italian.

"I'm really happy with this race because this victory is unexpected, the weekend was complicated (...), during the race I saw that my pace was really good", reacted the winner.

At the foot of the podium, the French Fabio Quartararo retains the lead in the world championship with four points ahead of Espargaro and eight over Bastianini.

Starting 4th, the reigning world champion fell to eighth place at the start of the race to find himself in the fight for the podium with his rival in the general classification, without ever managing to gain the upper hand.

Frenchman Johann Zarco 5th

"It was a super difficult race, the most difficult of the season so far (...), I knew Fabio was behind me but I knew it was difficult for him to pass me (...) racing was about not making mistakes," Espargaro explained at the finish.

The other Frenchman in the event, Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) who started 9th on the grid, finished 5th after having overtaken the multi-world champion, the Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda), under the clamor public.

Besides Bagnaia, six riders were forced to retire: the Spaniards of Suzuki Alex Rins and Joan Mir, the two KTM-Tech3 riders, the Australian Remy Gardner and the Spaniard Raul Fernandez.

Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) also had to return to the garage prematurely after a crash, as did Miguel Oliveira (KTM).