Casey Stoner earned his second victory of the season Sunday at Le Mans, his first ever French Grand Prix win. The 25-year-old Australian overtook his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa on the second lap and led the rest of the way, meeting the checkered flag with an impressive 14.214 second advantage over his other team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who claimed his first podium of the season. Third place went to Valentino Rossi, earning him his first ever trip to the rostrum with Ducati.
Pedrosa had been running second behind Stoner, but crashed out on lap 18 of 28, when Marco Simoncelli made a daring pass attempt in which he collided with the Spaniard. Simoncelli was given a ride through penalty for the incident but went on to finish fifth while Pedrosa left the race with a broken right collar bone — incredibly hard luck for Dani, who after winning the last round at Estoril, was sitting second overall and seemed to have regained his form, finally recovering from a left collar bone fracture from last season.
With his win today Casey Stoner has now climbed into second place in the overall standings, 12 points behind defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Lorenzo finished fourth today). But it wasn’t all good news for Stoner. The 2007 world champion was fined 5,000 for punching Randy De Puniet in the shoulder. Apparently the Frenchman got in Stoner’s way during the morning warm-up.
2011 Le Mans MotoGP Results
1. Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda Team 44m 3.955s
2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 44m 18.169s
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 44m 18.519s
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing 44m 25.030s
5. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 44m 35.200s
6. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing 44m 35.564s
7. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 44m 39.521s
8. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 44m 55.457s
9. Hector Barbera ESP Mapfre Aspar Team 45m 7.686s
10. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 45m 7.840s
11. Toni Elias ESP LCR Honda MotoGP 45m 8.023s
12. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45m 8.147s
13. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2 laps
DNF
Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing Team
Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team
Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Randy de Puniet FRA Pramac Racing Team
2011 MotoGP Championship Standings
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 78
2 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 66
3 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 61
4 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 50
5 Valentino Rossi Ducati Marlboro Team 47
6 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 39
7 Hiroshi Aoyama San Carlo Honda Gresini 36
8 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 22
9 Héctor Barberá Mapfre Aspar Team 21
= Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 21
= Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 21
12 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 20
13 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 18
14 Toni Elías LCR Honda MotoGP 17
15 Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team 9
16 Álvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 7
17 Randy de Puniet Pramac Racing Team 6
= John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 6
