Round 4 of 18 Aftermath

French Grand Prix 2012

4.185 m · 27 laps · since 1969

18.05 – 20.05.2012

Aftermath

What happened

The official result against what we predicted, race craft by phase and the start.

Race result

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Team	Time / gap	Points
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	Yamaha Factory Racing	49:39.743	25
2	Valentino Rossi	Ducati	Ducati Team	+9.905	20
3	Casey Stoner	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	+11.298	16
4	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	+29.361	13
5	Stefan Bradl	Honda	LCR Honda MotoGP	+32.477	11
6	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	Ducati Team	+32.842	10
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Yamaha	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+59.759	9
8	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	+65.152	8
9	Hector Barbera	Ducati	Pramac Racing Team	+67.846	7
10	Alvaro Bautista	Honda	San Carlo Honda Gresini	+73.193	6
11	James Ellison	ART	Paul Bird Motorsport	+86.663	5
12	Mattia Pasini	ART	Speed Master	+87.633	4
13	Aleix Espargaro	ART	Power Electronics Aspar	+0.000	3
14	Michele Pirro	FTR	San Carlo Honda Gresini	+0.000	2
15	Yonny Hernandez	BQR	Avintia Blusens	+0.000	1
16	Ben Spies	Yamaha	Yamaha Factory Racing	+0.000	0
17	Chris Vermeulen	Suter	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	+0.000	0
18	Ivan Silva	BQR	Avintia Blusens	+0.000	0
DNF	Danilo Petrucci	Ioda	Came IodaRacing Project	Retired	0
DNF	Karel Abraham	Ducati	Cardion AB Motoracing	Retired	0
DNF	Randy De Puniet	ART	Power Electronics Aspar	Retired	0

Lap-by-lap positions: race

Position crossing the line on each lap. The top six are in colour; the rest can be switched on in the legend. When a rider retires, their line ends.

The race in numbers

Race

Overtakes

Lead changes

1 leaders

28/28

Laps led by the winner

Jorge Lorenzo

9.905 s

Closest finish

Comeback of the day: Stefan Bradl, from P13 to P5.

Longest battle: Andrea Dovizioso vs Cal Crutchlow (14 laps).

Overtakes are counted at the finish line: moves undone within the same lap are not seen. It is a measure of movement, not an official statistic.

The start

C23

Holeshot: Jorge Lorenzo (started P4).

Rider	Grid	L1	Δ
Mattia Pasini	20	14	+6
Stefan Bradl	13	7	+6
Michele Pirro	14	10	+4
Ben Spies	6	18	−12
Hector Barbera	9	13	−4
Andrea Dovizioso	3	5	−2

Who finished better and worse than the grid suggested

Rider	Grid→Pos.	Beats the grid
Stefan Bradl	13→5	+5.5
Valentino Rossi	7→2	+4.7
Jorge Lorenzo	4→1	+3.8
Yonny Hernandez	15→15	−3.2
Ivan Silva	19→18	−3.6
Ben Spies	6→16	−10.0

Positions gained (+) or lost (−) versus what the starting position suggests, net of what is normally gained or lost at the start. Finishers only.

Race weather

C25

15.7 °C

Air

max 15.9 °C

89%

Humidity

1.4 mm

Rain

8 km/h

Wind

gusts 23 km/h

Open-Meteo data at the circuit location during the race; not the track temperature.

Preview

Before the race

What to expect this weekend: race and qualifying outlook, the weight of the grid and the weather.

Who rules each sector

Finish line S1 S2 S3 S4 · 4,197 m per lap

Approximate sectors: estimated from the time spent in each sector (typical error 5 to 10% of a lap) until we have the official split points.

Sector	1	2	3
S1	Pol Espargaro +0.44%	Maverick Viñales +0.46%	Fermin Aldeguer +0.52%
S2	Johann Zarco +0.26%	Fabio Quartararo +0.31%	Jorge Martin +0.37%
S3	Jorge Martin +0.41%	Pedro Acosta +0.43%	Pol Espargaro +0.45%
S4	Marc Marquez +0.27%	Fabio Quartararo +0.33%	Augusto Fernandez +0.46%

Median gap to the fastest rider in each sector within each session, across all seasons at this circuit; active riders only. The name on the layout is the sector leader. Sector split points on the map are approximate.

A track for grid position, or an open one?

C15

In between: the grid matters, but there is room to come back.

33/100

Position index

22%

Pole wins

48%

Front row on the podium

0.69

Grid ↔ result

When two teammates disagree between pace and grid, pace wins 50% of the time (between 22% and 79%; 8 cases).

Descriptive, over 9 races (2018–2026). 100 = the track where the grid matters most; 0 = the most open. Within a team, practice pace tells who will finish ahead 7 times in 10, but when the faster teammate qualifies behind, they finish behind 6 times in 10: grid position weighs more than pace.

How they arrive in the standings

#	Rider	Points	Gap
1	Casey Stoner	66	—
2	Jorge Lorenzo	65	−1
3	Daniel Pedrosa	52	−14
4	Cal Crutchlow	37	−29
5	Andrea Dovizioso	35	−31
6	Alvaro Bautista	29	−37

Full championship →

The last race here in numbers

2011 edition

Overtakes

Lead changes

2 leaders

27/28

Laps led by the winner

Casey Stoner

14.214 s

Closest finish

Comeback of the day: Valentino Rossi, from P9 to P3.

Longest battle: Andrea Dovizioso vs Jorge Lorenzo (14 laps).

Overtakes are counted at the finish line: moves undone within the same lap are not seen. It is a measure of movement, not an official statistic.

Winners here

2026Jorge MartinAprilia
2025Johann ZarcoHonda
2024Jorge MartinDucati
2023Marco BezzecchiDucati
2022Enea BastianiniDucati
2021Jack MillerDucati
2020Danilo PetrucciDucati
2019Marc MarquezHonda

Attrition here

Average here 27% · global 19%

Year	DNFs	%
2026	5/21	24%
2025	6/22	27%
2024	6/22	27%
2023	8/21	38%
2022	7/24	29%
2021	6/22	27%