2008 MotoGP Championship - Shanghai, China

More:  Qualifying (Below)  |  Race Preview (Below)

Race Results
Valentino Rossi made another historic step in his incredible career today when he took his 90th career victory in Le Mans, equaling the record set by the great Angel Nieto, to move into second in the all-time winners list behind Giacomo Agostini.

It was an outstanding display from the Fiat Yamaha Team rider and he celebrated in fine style when Nieto joined him on his slow-down lap, the Spaniard taking charge of the bike with Rossi riding pillion behind him.

It was a superb day for Yamaha in general as Jorge Lorenzo once again defied his injuries to ride into an astonishing second place behind his team-mate and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards joined the pair on the podium in third place.

Rossi had an average start and was tailing the lead group in fifth at the end of lap one.  It was soon clear how well his Yamaha-Bridgestone package was working however and he picked off first Nicky Hayden then Edwards and Dani Pedrosa to move into second behind Casey Stoner, before passing him too on lap eight.

From then on Rossi was too strong for the chasing pack, stretching his lead lap after lap until some spots of rain forced him to slow slightly in the last third of the race.  The sun soon came back out however, allowing the riders to continue without changing bikes and the Italian to cross the line 4.997 seconds in front to take his first back-to-back victory since 2006.

The 29-year-old's 90th win moves him two points clear at the top of the championship with 97 points, whilst Lorenzo and Pedrosa are just behind him with 94 points each.  Rossi will now stay here for two days of testing to ready himself for his home race at Mugello in Italy in two week's time, when he will be looking for his 7th consecutive win at the track.

Valentino Rossi 1st 44'30.799:  "To arrive at 90 wins like this and equal Angel's record is a dream for me.  I had quite a lot of pressure because Angel was waiting with the special leathers to join me on the bike, so I really needed to win!  It was great to ride with him - I think maybe with some practice he can be as fast as us!  180 victories together on one bike is quite impressive I think!

Honestly I didn't expect to be so fast today but together with Jeremy and my guys we decided to make some small modifications this morning and in the race my M1 and my Bridgestone tires worked brilliantly from start to finish.  When is started to rain a little bit I thought "oh no!' and so I steadied a bit and tried to ride very sweetly; I had such a good rhythm and I really didn't want to have to change bikes.

Luckily the rain soon stopped and I was able to continue in the same way.  It's great for Yamaha to have the first three and I want to congratulate Jorge especially for doing such a good job in his condition.  Thanks to everybody in the team; the job that Yamaha has done in three months is incredible.  I enjoyed myself so much today, the atmosphere in our garage is perfect and now we will make two important days of testing, try to improve even more and then head to Mugello."

Jorge Lorenzo
Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo once again stunned onlookers by riding to second place in Le Mans today with two fractured ankles.  The 21-year-old rookie has found it increasingly difficult to ride through the pain during the course of the weekend but today he found his rhythm and was able to take his fourth podium in five races.

It was a Yamaha whitewash in France as Valentino Rossi took his 90th career victory, equaling Angel Nieto with the second highest number of wins in the sport's history, and Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards rode a strong race to finish third.

Lorenzo's race was a carbon copy of China as he dropped back through the field at the start, struggling off the line and unable to find his rhythm in the early stages.  He had lost five places from fifth on the grid at the end of lap one but on lap eight he suddenly found the feeling with the bike and began to make headway, passing three riders in one lap and setting off after Chris Vermeulen, who was some distance ahead.

It took the Michelin-shod rider seven laps to reel in the Australian and then another five to pass Edwards, before he leap-frogged both Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner on lap 21 to move into second.  Some spots of rain caused a flurry of activity in the pits as the mechanics readied the second bikes with rain settings, but the sun reappeared and Lorenzo eventually crossed the line just under five seconds adrift of his team-mate.

Jorge Lorenzo 2nd +4'997:  "Firstly I want to say congratulations to Yamaha because it's fantastic to have three on the podium and it demonstrates how strong our bike is.  After the weekend I have had, with the crashes and so much pain, I can't believe I'm here!

All last night I worried about this race because I really thought it might be too hard.  It was a dream to finish sixth or seventh, especially when I could only manage 11th in the warm-up.  I knew I had to try however and on the grid one of my mechanics reminded me that my rivals were just the same ones as in Portugal; this was a good motivation!

I had some problems at the start and it's clear that we need to work on these, but after a while I found my rhythm and once again I was able to make my way through the field and pass some riders.  I think the rain helped me for the first time in my life because everyone was a little bit slower for a few laps, but second is unbelievable and I think I look a bit happier this afternoon! Now we have to work as hard as possible to heal my injuries and improve my physical condition, so that we can be back to our best in Mugello."

Colin Edwards
Colin Edwards stormed to his first podium finish of the season in Le Mans today to hand a jubilant Tech 3 Yamaha squad its first premier class top three finish since 2004.  Edwards finished third in a rain-affected 28-lap race to give Tech 3 its first home podium since 2003, while the American also helped Yamaha to its first clean sweep of the rostrum since 2001.

Starting from the front row of the grid for the fourth time in five races, the American was immediately in contention for the lead as he pursued reigning world champion Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.  Relegated to fourth by eventual Valentino Rossi on lap four, Edwards then spent 15 laps closely pursuing Stoner and Pedrosa, and in the process he clocked the second fastest lap of the race.

Rain started to fall on lap 16, dampening the track at certain points, though not hard enough for a second successive flag-to-flag race to be played out in front of a large French crowd.  Edwards briefly slipped back to fifth on lap 20, but he moved back into fourth when Stoner encountered technical problems and secured his ninth podium when he passed Pedrosa on lap 22.

The result helped move Edwards into fifth place in the points, while Tech 3 Yamaha is now level on points with Ducati's factory squad in the Team World Championship standings.

James Toseland's Le Mans debut ended in disappointment after the British rider crashed out of ninth place following a tangle with Andrea Dovizioso on lap three.  Toseland had made a fantastic start to jump to fifth by the end of the first lap, but in the frantic early exchanges slipped back to ninth before he crashed unhurt.

Colin Edwards 3rd +6.805:  "I honestly thought that today was going to be my day with the pace I'd been able to run all weekend.  I was fastest in free practice, fastest in the warm-up and second on the grid so I had high expectations.  I really thought I could have got my first win out there, but I'll still settle for third because it was a tough race.

I thought I'd got a good start and then Casey and Dani came flying by and it was almost impossible to pass them.  I tried everything, but they just didn't make any mistakes and I couldn't get close enough.  I wanted to get by them because looking at my lap times I know I had more in the locker, but I couldn't pass.  They just had the jump on me coming out of the corners with acceleration and it would have taken a risky move for me to do it.

I'm an experienced rider and those guys are fighting for the world title while I'm in fifth, so I wasn't going to do anything stupid.  And when Valentino came blazing by like a cowboy with his guns shooting I knew he was going to push hard and that it would be tough for me.

Casey had a problem and I got by him and then I passed Dani, as he seemed to check a bit at the first corner because of the rain.  I didn't think the rain was that bad and the lap times were not that much slower.  I got to say a huge thanks to my team because I've wanted to give them a podium, and I guess there is no better to do it than in their home race.  They've worked so hard and I'm glad to give them that podium.

Congratulations to Yamaha as well because to have a 1-2-3 is fantastic.  My Michelin tires worked great too, so hopefully next time I can be closer to the win."

2008 MotoGP France - Le Mans 18/05/2008

Circuit Length: 4180. Weather: Dry

Race 1 - 28 Laps

1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 44'30.799

2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 0'4.997

3 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'6.805

4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'10.157

5 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'21.762

6 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 0'22.395

7 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 0'27.806

8 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'27.995

9 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 0'29.344

10 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'30.822

11 Toni Elias Ducati ESP 0'35.154

12 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 0'36.216

13 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 0'52.038

14 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 1'29.307

15 Marco Melandri Ducati ITA -1 Laps

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Qualifying
Dani Pedrosa qualified in pole position for the 2008 French Grand Prix at Le Mans and Colin Edwards turned in another great performance to place him second on the grid.

Casey Stoner qualified in third position, which puts him one ahead of Valentino Rossi, who will start the French Grand Prix at the head of the second row, after qualifying fourth in Le Mans this afternoon.

Yamaha Team Report
Following on from a tricky afternoon yesterday, today was much better from the start for the 29-year-old Italian and he was second fastest in this morning's free practice session and much happier about his race pace.

This afternoon saw more of the same good work from Rossi as he concentrated on refining set-up and finalizing his tire choice with Bridgestone, before using his three qualifying tires in the later stages of the session. With his last tire Rossi was confident of making a run for the front row but he could not quite make it and had to settle for fourth, though he remains confident of being able to play a key part in tomorrow's 28-lap race.

His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was unfortunate to crash again in practice this morning but escaped any further injury to his damaged ankles and was able to qualify in fifth, next to Rossi. 

Dani Pedrosa took pole and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards added to Yamaha's impressive 2008 front-row tally by qualifying second, which means that the four Yamaha riders have now filled ten out of the 15 front-row grid spots between them this season.

Colin Edwards
Colin Edwards was in superb form again today as he came close to handing the Tech 3 Yamaha team a home pole position for the French GP in Le Mans.  The American will start tomorrow's 28-lap race from second on the grid after he was denied a second successive pole position at the historic Bugatti circuit by current MotoGP world championship leader Dani Pedrosa.

Edwards had produced another masterful display of riding on Michelin's dominant qualifying tires to lead the field by 0.7s with 20 minutes remaining.  Bidding for a fourth career pole and his second of 2008, Edwards increased his advantage with just 11 minutes remaining when he clocked a lap of 1.32.774.  That time smashed his 2007 Le Mans pole position time by close to a second, but trying to respond to Pedrosa's time on his last qualifier, Edwards encountered a problem attempting to pass Marco Melandri and had to settle for second.

Edwards though is confident he is capable of mounting a podium challenge tomorrow after posting fast and consistent times on race tires all weekend.  He was quickest at the end of the three free practice sessions.

A new tactic helped British rider James Toseland claim seventh on the grid as he opted to run four Michelin qualifying tires for the first time.  He clocked a best time of 1.33.396, with the extra qualifier helping him gradually build up speed on the soft rubber.  Toseland looked on course for his third second row start in five races when Nicky Hayden dropped him out of the top six by just 0.110s in the closing stages.

Colin Edwards 2nd 1'32.774:  "I've got to admit that I thought I'd done enough for pole position today.  I'll even admit that the time I did with my first tire I thought might be good enough.  I thought I'm just going to kick back with a coffee but the boys starting knocking down the times and when I did my second lap of 32.7, I thought "that is going to be close to pole". 

I was out on my last tire and I was hammering it but still felt pretty comfortable like I had more in reserve.  Then I came out of the bottom hairpin and Marco was in front of me, but he was a good fifteen bike lengths clear.  He stayed way over to the left and I thought "okay, he'll look back and see me."

But he didn't look back and unfortunately it cost me a bit of time, which is a little frustrating.  I almost ran into the back of him and I had to stand the bike up and run over the inside of the curb.  Maybe if I had just kept the throttle wide open I'd have still got a fast time.  It could have been pole position because I'd matched Dani through the first two splits and the strongest section for Yamaha has always been T4.

With our chassis and the way the bike handles the bike works like a dream in the last section, so I was confident that I'd have made up some time in that last part. I was certainly going to give it a go.  I'm still happy to be on the front row, but pole would have been nice for the Tech 3 team in their home race.  The bike is working awesome and Michelin has done a great job.  For Tech 3 and Michelin this is a massively important race, and I'll be giving it everything tomorrow.  On race tires we have been fast and consistent all weekend and I'm feeling good."

Valentino Rossi 4th 1'33.157:  "Today everything seemed to go very well and I was quite confident; I thought that with the last qualifying tire I could do 1'32.9 or even 8 and be on the front row, but at the end we had a small problem and couldn't manage this.  Of course the first row is always better but with the race tires we are in good shape, with a strong rhythm and a great set-up.

Tomorrow I will look to make a good start, try to get to the front immediately and then try to stay there with the other fast riders.  As I said, our race pace is fine but there are four or five other riders with a similar fast pace so it's going to be a very interesting race tomorrow!  My target is to be on the podium so now we're hoping for another dry day and then we will do our very best to be there."

Ant West.  Photos courtesy Kawasaki Racing.

Jorge Lorenzo
It was another nervous day for the team of Lorenzo as they watched their injured rider battling through the pain barrier in Le Mans.  Despite his injuries however he was able to qualify fifth, in the middle of the second row, for tomorrow's French Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old rookie gave his team another scary moment this morning when he crashed out during first practice and was carried off by stretcher.  A quick check up at the circuit clinic however revealed that he had luckily done no further damage to his two fractured ankles and he was able to take part in this afternoon's qualifying session.  There were a few more nervous moments for his team when he twice ran off track, but despite his difficulties he was able to use all of his Michelin qualifying tires and fifth on the grid is an excellent result in the circumstances.

James Toseland 7th 1'33.396:  "I did pretty good times in every section but never managed to put them together on the same lap unfortunately.  Without that track knowledge and a couple of small mistakes you are on the third row.

The speed of these guys and their experience is unbelievable and it is tough to beat them when everything is perfect.  Nicky just beat me to the second row and I'd have been really pleased with that because it is vital to be on he first two rows to get away with that leading bunch.

Being on the third row is quite a big disadvantage so I need a really good start.  I ran four qualifiers today because on a track I don't know it is almost like having to learn the circuit again with the extra grip.  It just helps me build up speed gradually instead of having to take your brain out and go for a time.  There is so much pressure to get a good grid position you can't afford to make a mistake and having a fourth is like a banker really.

I've been improving all weekend, but I just need to start on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and I'd be okay! We have definitely found a direction with the set-up.  I'm hoping it will be dry tomorrow morning because we need to try something else but I got into the 34s on race tires this afternoon and I need to shave off about half-a-second really.  But we got rear traction massively better than yesterday. 

At least now I can drive off the corners better because in China I couldn't drive of the corners very well and that's why I was getting passed on the exit.  Colin has been brilliant all weekend and it's been great for the Tech 3 team at their home race.  Hopefully I can get in amongst the action tomorrow and give my guys a good result."

2008 MotoGP France - Le Mans 17/05/2008

Circuit Length: 4180. Weather: Dry

1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'32.647

2 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'32.774

3 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'32.994

4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'33.157

5 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'33.269

6 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'33.286

7 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'33.396

8 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'33.440

9 John Hopkins Kawasaki USA 1'33.648

10 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'33.698

11 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1'33.707

12 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'33.723

13 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'34.077

14 Toni Elias Ducati ESP 1'34.561

15 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 1'34.670

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