Lenovo Ducati Rider Jack Miller Wins French GP Amid Le Mans ' Chaotic' Weather

Lenovo Ducati team rider Jack Miller (Photo: Twitter @jackmilleraus)

JAKARTA - Lenovo Ducati team rider Jack Miller claimed his second consecutive victory of the season after winning the French Grand Prix in 'chaotic' weather conditions at Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans.Two home riders, Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) had to settle for completing the podium when no French rider other than Pierre Monneret won his hometown race in 1954.After winning the Spanish GP two weeks ago , Miller is now the second Australian to win two Grands Prix in a row after Casey Stoner who won at Jerez and Estoril in 2012." Winning races in a row like this is fantastic. I have a lot to thank the team," Miller told Antara on Sunday, May 16.

In the fifth race of the season, the race director declared the race dry before the start, although cloudy began to drift at the start of the race. However, the team crew had prepared a motorcycle with wet tyres in their respective garages in anticipation of the famously extreme weather changes at Le Mans.Miller took over the race leader from Quartararo on the first lap when the track was still dry. However, suddenly a white flag signal was hoisted on lap 4 when rain began to fall on the track and the riders entered the pits to change bikes with wet tyres to continue the race.

Apes for defending world champion Joan Mir when she crashed before entering the pits, as did her Suzuki teammate Alex Rins who slipped the track that started to get wet. However, Rins was able to continue the race even though his resistance ended prematurely due to falling again in the second half of the race. Marc Marquez briefly led the race after exiting the pits with a wet tyre before crashing due to a highside on lap 9. The Honda rider then crashed for the second time when the race left 10 laps and failed to finish for the first time since returning to racing after prolonged injuries.Miller and Bagnaia were awarded a double long lap penalty for violating the speed limit in the pit lane. Quartararo also had to serve a long lap penalty for misplaced his bike in Vinales' garage when changing bikes.

The home rider's chances of becoming champion were further undermined when Miller had sped to take the lead four seconds ahead. With the weather conditions rapidly changing at Le Mans, the sunshine was again scorching as the cloud disappeared in the last eight laps.Miller had widened his distance to seven seconds from his nearest rival as Zarco overtook Quartararo on the last six laps and raced steadily towards the Australian rider.However Miller was already too far ahead and secured victory by a margin of 3.970 seconds from Zarco.Francesco Bagnaia, after the start of P16, raced to secure points in P4.

Danilo Petrucci finished his best finish as a KTM Tech3 team rider in P5 outperforming LCR Honda team duo Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami in P6 and P7. Pol Espargaro had to settle for P8, outperforming Iker Lecuona and Maverick Vinales who finished in the top ten. Quartararo now tops the standings with 80 points, shifting Bagnaia by a one-point margin to second place. Zarco finished third with 68 points, while Miller overshadowed him by just four points, according to motoGP's official website.The fight will continue into the sixth race of the series to be held at the Mugello Circuit in Italy on May 30.