Rizla Suzuki ended the French Grand Prix with nothing to show for its hard work after Loris Capirossi crashed out of today’s race, adding to the disappointment of Álvaro Bautista’s withdrawal yesterday.
Capirossi started from ninth on the grid and made a steady start to the race, before finding his rhythm and starting to track down the group in front of him. He passed Colin Edwards on lap six and began to open a gap on the American, before disaster struck on the next lap and Capirossi crashed in turn three. He was able to re-mount his Suzuki GSV-R, but was unable to get the motor running again and was forced to retire. Capirossi was at odds to explain what caused the crash – similar to the one last time out in Jerez – and was very disappointed after such a positive weekend’s work to leave Le Mans pointless.
Capirossi was the only Rizla Suzuki racer today following Bautista’s early departure yesterday after a crash in free practice which aggravated his injured shoulder and caused him to return to Spain for further treatment, as well as rest and recuperation.
Today’s race was watched by 82,270 fans at trackside, who all baked in glorious French sunshine as temperatures rose above 30ºC. Jorge Lorenzo took a comprehensive victory to strengthen his lead at the top of the World Championship.
Rizla Suzuki will now travel to Mugello in Italy for round four of the MotoGP World Championship on Sunday 6th June, with the team looking to bounce back from this weekend.
Loris Capirossi:
“It has again been an unlucky end to a weekend for us! It was the best we had felt at a Grand Prix this year and we had worked very hard in practice to fix everything and we made some good, positive steps. In the race I started steadily because the grip was not too good. After a couple of laps I felt a bit better and increased my rhythm and got past Colin, but in turn three I crashed. I leaned in and just lost the front, I don’t know why it happened and this is the third time I’ve crashed on the front and we will have to discover what’s causing it. During the weekend the feeling has been good and in warm-up I didn’t have any problems, but then in the race we struggled and I crashed. I am so sorry for the whole team because they all worked so hard. I am really, really upset because I feel in such good condition and we need to be getting some good results, this is no way to end the weekend, but we now must go to Mugello and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Monster Energy Grand Prix de France Race Classification:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 44’29.114: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +5.672: 3. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) +7.872: 4. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) +9.346: 5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +12.613: Not Classified. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP)
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