Round 5: 2024 Michelin Grand Prix de France - Le Mans Bugatti Circuit

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HO LI PHUC. What a race and what a weekend. I know "what ifs" can be silly but what if Marc had made Q2? Amazing weekend for him. I was pumped to see what Pedro was gonna do but that ended quickly. I also thought Marc was going to settle for 3rd with I think 3 laps or so remaining. At that point of the race, is it possible Marc intentionally fell off to bring his front tire pressure down for one final charge? Or is it too late by that point? How much clean air (laps) do they need to reduce the tire pressure?

Even though I did not understand a word, I enjoyed watching them watch the race highlights before the podium celebration. Pecco had to watch first Jorge pass him and then Marc. It got quiet but I saw a bit of a grin on Jorge's face.

Random observations:
1) I did not see Marc's girlfriend in the box. I'm thinking creeper Juliá has scared he away.
2) After morning warm-up they showed two lads, one in a yellow 46 cap and the other in a Yamaha cap, proudly displaying a 93 banner/flag.
 
Solid weekend of close racing, but it was not without frustration. All of the front runners were so close to the theoretical max that overtaking was difficult, and often resulted in a rider losing time/places or making a mistake. Acosta blew it on Sunday, though he did an amazing job missing FabG. Bastianini guided Eapargaro off track and then missed the apex which earned him a long lap. He always has pace at LeMans and he closes late, yet he couldn’t put it together this week to provide additional intrigue. It may be unpopular to say, but the most frustrating part of the race was Marc’s block pass from miles back on FBag. It seemed like fireworks were imminent, but that pass let all of the air out of the balloon. It was good for Marc backers, who make up a plurality of the fan base, but something better may have been on the horizon. Let’s not get started on Bezzecchi. His stock is plummeting.

Martin was not a disappointment. He continues to demonstrate that he is the most consistent rider on the grid, and the fastest most of the time. If not for his mistake at Jerez he would already be opening a big gap to second place. He looks quite solid this year, and with Tardozzi publicly saying that Bagnaia’s bike had no problem (or clumsily giving the journos a headline), and with Gigi teasing a tie-up with Marquez, Bagnaia appears to be fighting an uphill battle this season.
 
ApriliaRS250 said:
Yeah thats bs, schumacher retired on his own terms, later coming back but choosing the wrong manufacturer at the time so ending his second career rather inglorious with only one podium in the second stint if I remember correctly

His only chance to shine was at Monaco when he qualified on pole but parked his car in rascasse

Difficult decision for ducati
But you cant fire the guy that just brought 2 championships at home

Martin deserves a place aswell as marquez. So if I were ducati i would wait as long as possible. The only thing thats for sure is that bestia will be sacked. Today was the last time he was second in the championship standing

Id rate 2x 13th to second slightly higher than pole, sprint and race win


I also predict the standings after the last round: martin, prosecco and marc will be on the first 3 places just not sure in which order and 4th will be acosta
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Bastianini actually had the fastest lap in the race. He was hampered by injury last year having been considered a serious challenger to Pecco before the season, and was chosen over Martin for the factory ride last time . Hard to see him getting the ride over Martin again or MM if MM is faster than him on a GP23, and I am not sure he has the consistency or racecraft of the other two. Tough to have such competition and poor luck with injury though, he is a very talented rider imo and one most factory teams in history would be happy to have on their bike.
 
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michaelm said:
That bloke Martin might have something to say about it, and it is hard to see how he can't be given the second factory Ducati seat, although he may have annoyed them with his public comments last season, and Bastianini hasn't exactly been terrible either. As has been said previously however MM on a KTM might worry them more than any other current Ducati rider.

Still early in the season with 37 points available per weekend though, and MM seems fully fit and may be capable of relentless consistency mode.
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So far I'm not talking about the championship but about race wins, and I'm now convinced race wins will be coming in the near future.
I'd love to see Jörg win the championship with he already would be have deserved last year but I'd be surprised if this doesn't go down to the season finale again. I don't see him having the consistency to run away with it.
No clue who will end up on the second red Ducati but I don't think Enea is out of the running either. Bagnaia with Jörg or Marc as a teammate could turn ugly quick but on the other hand, Ducati can't be willing to lose either of them to another manufacturer and for them, a factory Ducati is still the best bike in the championship.
ApriliaRS250 said:
His only chance to shine was at Monaco when he qualified on pole but parked his car in rascasse
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The rascasse incident was all the way back in 06. He did win the pole at Monaco in 2012 but got a 5-place grid drop for taking out Bruno Senna at the previous race.
Anyway, after winning two championships and being right in his prime, Ducati would be crazy not to renew with Frantisek even though I can't stand the guy.
 
mylexicon said:
Solid weekend of close racing, but it was not without frustration. All of the front runners were so close to the theoretical max that overtaking was difficult, and often resulted in a rider losing time/places or making a mistake. Acosta blew it on Sunday, though he did an amazing job missing FabG. Bastianini guided Eapargaro off track and then missed the apex which earned him a long lap. He always has pace at LeMans and he closes late, yet he couldn’t put it together this week to provide additional intrigue. It may be unpopular to say, but the most frustrating part of the race was Marc’s block pass from miles back on FBag. It seemed like fireworks were imminent, but that pass let all of the air out of the balloon. It was good for Marc backers, who make up a plurality of the fan base, but something better may have been on the horizon. Let’s not get started on Bezzecchi. His stock is plummeting.

Martin was not a disappointment. He continues to demonstrate that he is the most consistent rider on the grid, and the fastest most of the time. If not for his mistake at Jerez he would already be opening a big gap to second place. He looks quite solid this year, and with Tardozzi publicly saying that Bagnaia’s bike had no problem (or clumsily giving the journos a headline), and with Gigi teasing a tie-up with Marquez, Bagnaia appears to be fighting an uphill battle this season.
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Yes, hard to see what more Martin could have done. Creditable that MM came from 13th both races, but JM didn’t put him there, that was MM’s own work.
 
mylexicon said:
Acosta blew it on Sunday, though he did an amazing job missing FabG.
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I don't believe Acosta had anything to do with missing Digi. Digi checked up ever so slightly which may have been the difference? I'd say Pedro did a good job in not taking Aleix with him. He came in too hot and had to brake harder than he wanted to avoid contact with Aleix's rear wheel, at least that's what it looked like to me. The racing gods were smiling on Digi.
 
mylexicon said:
Solid weekend of close racing, but it was not without frustration. All of the front runners were so close to the theoretical max that overtaking was difficult, and often resulted in a rider losing time/places or making a mistake. Acosta blew it on Sunday, though he did an amazing job missing FabG. Bastianini guided Eapargaro off track and then missed the apex which earned him a long lap. He always has pace at LeMans and he closes late, yet he couldn’t put it together this week to provide additional intrigue. It may be unpopular to say, but the most frustrating part of the race was Marc’s block pass from miles back on FBag. It seemed like fireworks were imminent, but that pass let all of the air out of the balloon. It was good for Marc backers, who make up a plurality of the fan base, but something better may have been on the horizon. Let’s not get started on Bezzecchi. His stock is plummeting.

Martin was not a disappointment. He continues to demonstrate that he is the most consistent rider on the grid, and the fastest most of the time. If not for his mistake at Jerez he would already be opening a big gap to second place. He looks quite solid this year, and with Tardozzi publicly saying that Bagnaia’s bike had no problem (or clumsily giving the journos a headline), and with Gigi teasing a tie-up with Marquez, Bagnaia appears to be fighting an uphill battle this season.
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I was reviewing the lap times from the frontrunners, if there had been 1 more racing lap I'm pretty sure Marc would have stuck it up the inside of Jorge.

I'm actually glad there were no fireworks to be had with the Bagnaia pass. He did a phenomenal job of getting onto a defensive line quickly and eliminating any chance Pecco had of making a last corner lunge.

Bezzecchi should have kept his mouth shut about a lot of things. He had a miserable weekend, almost as if everything caught back up with him. I'm obviously no fan of the VR46 squad because frankly they spend too much time trying to further already disproven conspiracy theories or pronouncements on other rider's abilities when their own don't even match said rider's current level of ability.

Martin rode extremely well. I was impressed with how he cut off any chance of Pecco striking back at him since you could see Pecco was trying to get past again. He's the man to beat currently though. I'm going to be curious if he continues to extend his lead, or if he falters as the pressure cooker grows. In particular, if he is not selected for the factory Ducati seat, will that put a dent in his season in any way?

Pecco rode well today all things considered, but he's going to have to really dig deep if he's to have any chance at defending his title.
 
Martín:

“I knew that Marc was behind,” said Martin, when asked by The Race in the press conference about the closing stages at Le Mans. “I saw that Diggia [Di Giannantonio] was getting dropped, and I said to myself, 'OK, I’m quite comfortable here behind Pecco'. Even Marc was at over two seconds [behind].

“But he took one second in almost one lap, and I knew that I had to make the move and start to push because he would arrive and I could have finished third, not even second.

“I knew he was coming and that’s why I tried to make the moves as fast as possible, to try and set my pace to make a small gap.”

This is why having Marc upfront makes the championship so interesting —rivals know anything can happen and they start getting nervous. Would Martín have reacted the same if it was Enea or Maverick coming from behind? I doubt so. Marc is box office.
 
Great race. MM made a clean pass on Bagnaia. Bags a little subdued. We will see what he has. Sometimes I think the interludes between races and how the riders process what happened previously has a lot to do with how they approach the next one and the results they then obtain. Obviously there are many variables! Martin proving he has what it takes to win the long race.

One thing that gets mentioned a lot is MM’s racecraft and relentless rep. What doesn’t get talked about a lot is how “the new guys” are learning from him and refining their own approach. I hope to see more consistency from both Martin and Bagnaia. DiGia also impressive and Acosta will take it in stride and also learn from it.
 
michaelm said:
.GP25 bike with Gresini with full factory support might be the best option for MM,
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I've been saying that since beginning of the season. After geling with Carchedi, the whole team, he just need a factory spec Ducati. Thus he can keep the sponsors, he'll be the boss, still have support from Ducati and whatnot. Then just before he retires he buys Gresini and build the MM93 racing team to challenge Rossi's VR 46 and then let the flame war keeping on forever lol
 
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One thing I think that is indisputable about GP racing after watching today's race is win or lose, having Marc in the mix at the front increases the enjoyment/excitement by ten fold. Having him at the front on a non-POS Honda is fantastic. He is no doubt built in the Doohan mold of being absolutely relentless when the pressure is at its highest.

I'll be honest, he's everything I wished Casey could have been.
 
JPSLotus said:
One thing I think that is indisputable about GP racing after watching today's race is win or lose, having Marc in the mix at the front increases the enjoyment/excitement by ten fold. Having him at the front on a non-POS Honda is fantastic. He is no doubt built in the Doohan mold of being absolutely relentless when the pressure is at its highest.

I'll be honest, he's everything I wished Casey could have been.
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Just like Rossi. When the likes of those guys are clashing in the front the audience explodes. That's because I look up to Rossi a lot, even always hoping he was beat by the underdog of his epoch. Rossi had incredible influence on the sport interest so much so that I don't think there will be a rider to match what he did in our generation. Maybe next century.
 
gui22a said:
Just like Rossi. When the likes of those guys are clashing in the front the audience explodes. That's because I look up to Rossi a lot, even always hoping he was beat by the underdog of his epoch. Rossi had incredible influence on the sport interest so much so that I don't think there will be a rider to match what he did in our generation. Maybe next century.
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Lets hope there is never another like him. The toxicity and fan base pressure he brought dragged the sport down imo. He used off track machinations to try to remove his rivals' advantage on track.
The one positive about it was watching Marc handle it so well and still crush him.
Rossi is still doing it or trying to through others. Wish he would just far cough once and for all
 
gui22a said:
Rossi had incredible influence on the sport interest so much so that I don't think there will be a rider to match what he did in our generation. Maybe next century.
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gui22a; "I don't like the idea of being a fan just because sometimes it makes us irrationaly defend something or someone, or looking for excuses in order to validade our point of view. I understand that though. That does not mean I can't admire someone or something."

So . . . like, are you gaslighting yourself?
 
warthog1 said:
Lets hope there is never another like him. The toxicity and fan base pressure he brought dragged the sport down imo. He used off track machinations to try to remove his rivals' advantage on track.
The one positive about it was watching Marc handle it so well and still crush him.
Rossi is still doing it or trying to through others. Wish he would just far cough once and for all
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Yeah I agree but many people glued on TV to either watch him win or lose lol.
 

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