by S. Ancin – photo: motogp.com

Maverick Viñales is back on the front-line of the MotoGP World Championship. In a frenzied end of race in Le Mans he battled out his third win of the season after Rossi’s crash on the final lap at the highest point of the race. Zarco and Pedrosa shared the podium whereas Marquez didn’t finish the race.

Together in the lead with Viñales and Rossi was the Frenchman Zarco who surprised everyone with a spectacular start, leading the race for the first seven laps. He was the only one running soft tyres front and rear and the strategy worked guaranteeing him a place in the podium right from the start of the race.

But Mack showed to have nerves of steel at Le Mans. He overtook Zarco who held onto the second position right up to the last fifth lap when he was passed by Rossi. After this he managed to frustrate all attempts of Marquez first and Pedrosa later to overtake him keeping his podium position. Pedrosa started at 13th position and on the first lap he climbed up to 7th place and then continued to steadily climb places until he took the lead. Marquez’s crashing on the 17th lap in his fight with the Yamahas did help his ascent too.

Rossi goes all out

The last five laps were a tug of war with between Viñales and Rossi. The Italian seemed to be winning the battle up until the last lap where he took a risk and went all out. Then he lost control of his bike and crashed out. He served victory on a plate to his team mate and ended up on the floor and with no points. Mack won followed by Zarco and Pedrosa. Dovizioso and Crutchlow finished fourth and fifth. The sixth position was for Lorenzo who came back from 16th place.

It was a race where the ex-pilot and ex-champion figure Nicky Hayden was ever present. Beyond the mistakes of Rossi and Marquez, this great final at Le Mans has livened up the championship. Viñales has taken the lead position back (85 points), 17 points over Pedrosa (68) who is followed closely behind by Rossi (62), Marquez (58), Zarco (55) and Dovizioso (54). All cards are on the table.