LE MANS, France (AP) – Australian rider Jack Miller got off to a great start when he overtook polesitter Fabio Quartararo and then stopped him to win the French MotoGP on Sunday.
The Ducati rider started in third behind Quartararo’s Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales, but was able to push his way forward. Quartararo caught up with Miller a few laps but later took a time penalty when heavy rain fell and then subsided.
Miller took his second consecutive win of the season and third place overall, beating Johann Zarco with four seconds and Quartararo with 14.5 seconds when two French drivers were on the podium.
“I drove according to the conditions. I was just counting the laps, ”said Miller. “It’s absolutely amazing, I can’t thank the team enough.”
Quartararo took the lead in the championship with 80 points, an advantage over the Italian Francesco Bagnaia, who started the race from 16 on the grid but finished in a credible fourth place.
Zarco is now third overall with 68, ahead of Miller with 64.
The race started in warm but windy conditions on the 4.2-kilometer Le Mans circuit in north-western France, which has a longest straight of 674 meters.
Vinales also overtook Quartararo, who dropped to third place, while Franco Morbidelli retired on lap 1 and it soon began to rain heavily.
Quartararo took the lead on lap 4 when Miller briefly slipped into the gravel trap while world champion Joan Mir got off his Suzuki in increasingly slippery conditions.
All drivers were then given a wheel change on lap 5. Quartararo came out behind six-time world champion Marc Marquez while Miller came back to third as the drivers had adapted to new tires.
“The first few laps were pretty questionable on the rain tires,” said Miller.
A rare mistake by Marquez resulted in him being kicked out of his Honda after misjudging a corner, giving Quartararo the lead with 19 of 27 laps remaining.
But the Frenchman was given a time penalty with 16 laps to go, which allowed Miller to make it clear, while Zarco’s extra speed and nous in the rain put him in second place.
It was a bad day for Marquez, who got away with it for the second time.
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