The 2012 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 2012 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 18–20 May 2012 at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, France. In a press conference on the Thursday before the race, Casey Stoner announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the season. He went on to finish third in the MotoGP race, handing the championship lead to Jorge Lorenzo, the race winner. Valentino Rossi took second place for his first podium since the previous year's race. Thomas Lüthi and Louis Rossi won the Moto2 and Moto3 races respectively. This was the 800th race to contribute to the Grand Prix motorcycle racing championship.
Classification MotoGP Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 99 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 28 49:39.743 4 25 2 46 Valentino Rossi Ducati Team Ducati 28 +9.905 7 20 3 1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team Honda 28 +11.298 2 16 4 26 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 28 +29.361 1 13 5 6 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 28 +32.477 13 11 6 69 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team Ducati 28 +32.842 11 10 7 4 Andrea Dovizioso Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 28 +59.759 3 9 8 35 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 28 +1:05.152 5 8 9 8 Héctor Barberá Pramac Racing Team Ducati 28 +1:07.846 9 7 10 19 Álvaro Bautista San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 28 +1:13.193 8 6 11 77 James Ellison Paul Bird Motorsport ART 28 +1:26.663 16 5 12 54 Mattia Pasini Speed Master ART 28 +1:27.633 20 4 13 41 Aleix Espargaró Power Electronics Aspar ART 27 +1 lap 17 3 14 51 Michele Pirro San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 27 +1 lap 14 2 15 68 Yonny Hernández Avintia Blusens BQR 27 +1 lap 15 1 16 11 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 27 +1 lap 6 17 7 Chris Vermeulen NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 26 +2 laps 21 18 22 Iván Silva Avintia Blusens BQR 26 +2 laps 19 Ret 9 Danilo Petrucci Avintia Blusens Ioda 24 Accident 18 Ret 14 Randy de Puniet Power Electronics Aspar ART 22 Accident 12 Ret 17 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 11 Retirement 10 Sources:
Moto2 Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 12 Thomas Lüthi Suter 26 50:02.816 2 25 2 71 Claudio Corti Kalex 26 +6.354 9 20 3 45 Scott Redding Kalex 26 +12.162 4 16 4 29 Andrea Iannone Speed Up 26 +16.338 5 13 5 36 Mika Kallio Kalex 26 +19.278 6 11 6 40 Pol Espargaró Kalex 26 +20.874 3 10 7 76 Max Neukirchner Kalex 26 +28.117 26 9 8 14 Ratthapark Wilairot Suter 26 +38.317 28 8 9 38 Bradley Smith Tech 3 26 +40.940 19 7 10 80 Esteve Rabat Kalex 26 +44.077 18 6 11 24 Toni Elías Suter 26 +59.583 10 5 12 60 Julián Simón Suter 26 +1:01.785 11 4 13 18 Nicolás Terol Suter 26 +1:03.430 17 3 14 77 Dominique Aegerter Suter 26 +1:10.341 12 2 15 44 Roberto Rolfo Suter 26 +1:22.145 21 1 16 49 Axel Pons Kalex 26 +1:46.994 16 17 72 Yuki Takahashi Suter 25 +1 lap 20 18 10 Marco Colandrea FTR 25 +1 lap 31 DSQ 95 Anthony West Moriwaki 26 (+21.705) 27 Ret 5 Johann Zarco Motobi 21 Accident 8 Ret 82 Elena Rosell Moriwaki 18 Accident 30 Ret 30 Takaaki Nakagami Kalex 17 Accident 24 Ret 63 Mike Di Meglio Speed Up 16 Accident 22 Ret 88 Ricard Cardús AJR 13 Accident 15 Ret 93 Marc Márquez Suter 11 Retirement 1 Ret 8 Gino Rea Suter 7 Accident 23 Ret 7 Alexander Lundh MZ-RE Honda 7 Retirement 25 Ret 15 Alex de Angelis Suter 3 Accident 7 Ret 47 Ángel Rodríguez Bimota 2 Accident 29 Ret 3 Simone Corsi FTR 2 Retirement 14 Ret 4 Randy Krummenacher Kalex 1 Retirement 13 DNS 19 Xavier Siméon Tech 3 OFFICIAL MOTO2 REPORT
Moto3 Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 96 Louis Rossi FTR Honda 24 49:12.390 15 25 2 23 Alberto Moncayo Kalex KTM 24 +27.348 7 20 3 42 Álex Rins Suter Honda 24 +28.899 26 16 4 27 Niccolò Antonelli FTR Honda 24 +33.195 27 13 5 61 Arthur Sissis KTM 24 +36.989 14 11 6 11 Sandro Cortese KTM 24 +45.312 6 10 7 53 Jasper Iwema FGR Honda 24 +58.645 25 9 8 89 Alan Techer TSR Honda 24 +1:05.022 18 8 9 21 Iván Moreno FTR Honda 24 +1:09.194 29 7 10 30 Giulian Pedone Suter Honda 24 +1:45.751 19 6 11 94 Jonas Folger Ioda 23 +1 lap 11 5 12 77 Marcel Schrötter Mahindra 23 +1 lap 32 4 13 86 Kevin Hanus Honda 23 +1 lap 30 3 14 19 Alessandro Tonucci FTR Honda 22 +2 laps 23 2 15 31 Niklas Ajo KTM 20 +4 laps 13 1 Ret 63 Zulfahmi Khairuddin KTM 17 Accident 10 Ret 25 Maverick Viñales FTR Honda 16 Accident 1 Ret 44 Miguel Oliveira Suter Honda 15 Accident 3 Ret 39 Luis Salom Kalex KTM 13 Accident 9 Ret 55 Héctor Faubel Kalex KTM 12 Accident 8 Ret 84 Jakub Kornfeil FTR Honda 12 Accident 4 Ret 32 Isaac Viñales FTR Honda 12 Accident 20 Ret 26 Adrián Martín FTR Honda 8 Accident 12 Ret 8 Jack Miller Honda 8 Retirement 22 Ret 15 Simone Grotzkyj Suter Honda 7 Accident 24 Ret 99 Danny Webb Mahindra 7 Retirement 31 Ret 52 Danny Kent KTM 5 Accident 17 Ret 5 Romano Fenati FTR Honda 2 Accident 21 Ret 10 Alexis Masbou Honda 1 Accident 5 Ret 51 Kenta Fujii TSR Honda 1 Accident 28 Ret 41 Brad Binder Kalex KTM 0 Accident 16 Ret 3 Luigi Morciano Ioda 0 Retirement 33 DNS 7 Efrén Vázquez FTR Honda 2 DNS 9 Toni Finsterbusch Honda OFFICIAL MOTO3 REPORT
Championship standings after the race (MotoGP) Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round four has concluded.
Riders' Championship standings Rider Points 1 Jorge Lorenzo 90 2 Casey Stoner 82 3 Dani Pedrosa 65 4 Cal Crutchlow 45 5 Andrea Dovizioso 44
Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Yamaha 90 2 Honda 86 3 Ducati 47 4 ART 16 5 Suter 4
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References