SETE BACK ON THE PODIUM IN STYLE
Melandri, constantly growing, remains second in the standings
after taking fourth place
 FRENCH
GP - MOTOGP RACE
Sete Gibernau was back to his best at the French Grand Prix,
adding a second place that felt more like a victory to his
two previous success in the last two visits here with the
MotoGP World Championship. Despite the difficulties in finding
a good race set-up this weekend, the Spaniard made a great
race. Sete suffered in the first laps as he started with a
different configuration to the one he had used on his bike
during practice. Then, as he got used, he grew in strength
as the race wore on and fought from seventh place to challenge
Valentino Rossi for victory on the final lap. Leaving Edwards
trailing by five seconds, Gibernau pushed Rossi all the way
to the line and clinched a valuable second place, which moves
him up to third in the championship on 53 points, just five
behind his team-mate.
Marco Melandri started from the front row of the grid and
rode another intelligent race, taking fourth position and
defending second place in! the championship overall.
The Movistar Honda team will be staying on at Le Mans for
a day of testing tomorrow.
SETE GIBERNAU (2nd):
“Today we’ve returned to where we should be, fighting
to win races. I’m particularly satisfied because we’ve
had a lot of problems in qualifying to find a good race pace
and without the help of Michelin and the incredible job done
by my team, this result was unthinkable. At the start it took
me a while to get used to the bike and the tyre but I didn’t
lose my head or my confidence and gave it everything to arrive
at the front. It was incredibly tough because I needed an
opportunity to rest and allow the tyre to cool down but they
didn’t let me. When I saw Rossi pass Edwards I went
with him. I had a clear idea of whereabouts I was going to
pass him but I made a mistake on the corner before and it
was impossible. In any case this is a very important result.”
MARCO MELANDRI (4th):
“We suffered at the start of the race but from there
on I managed to set a good pace and I’m satisfied with
this result. I chose a compound that was a little hard, in
order to have more advantage in the second part of the race.
In fact, from the second half of the race, I got a good rhythm
and conquered the 4th position. It was only my second dry
race of the season and we gathered a lot of important information.
We’ll have to work hard during the test tomorrow to
improve our performance in the first part of the race. All
in all, I’m very satisfied, my feeling with the bike
improves every race and thanks to Honda and my team I’m
learning a lot and I’m growing constantly”.
FRENCH GP
1. V.Rossi (Ita/Yam) 44’12”223
2. S.Gibernau (Esp/Hon) + 0”382
3. C.Edwards (USA/Yam) + 5”711
4. M.Melandri (Ita/Hon) + 7”276
5. M.Biaggi (Ita/Hon) + 7”703
6. N.Hayden (U! SA/Hon) + 21”770
7. L.Capirossi (Ita/Hon) + 24”664
MOTOGP STANDINGS
1. Valentino Rossi 95 points
2. Marco Melandri 58 points
3. Sete Gibernau 53 points
4. Max Biaggi 47 points
5. Alex Barros 43 points
6. Colin Edwards 41 points
7. Shinya Nakano 27 points
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