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Gibernau wins a wet French Grand Prix

Sete’s second
By Dan Moakes
May 27 2003
The race at Le Mans had to be stopped for rain, and was therefore run in two parts. The second half began at a more cautious pace, due to the conditions, but developed into a thrilling three-way contest between the two Hondas of Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau, and Alex Barros’ Yamaha.

It was not unusual to see Rossi starting from pole position, but the rest of the grid showed up some unexpected performances. After a disappointing start to the season, the Yamahas came good in France, with Barros second, Marco Melandri fourth, Carlos Checa sixth, and two more M1s rounding out the top ten. With Ducati and Loris Capirossi third, the next Honda runners were on row two, as Max Biaggi, Gibernau and Tohru Ukawa joined Checa. Grid times were all set on Friday, due to rain in the Saturday session.

The start saw Capirossi get it right, leading away from Rossi and Barros, with Norick Abe (Yamaha), Melandri, Biaggi, Checa and Gibernau in pursuit. On the second lap, Barros and Rossi moved ahead of Capirossi, and then began to go away. Before long, the Ducati man was holding up the field, with compatriots Melandri and Biaggi his closest company. Checa was an early casualty as his Fortuna machine crashed.

Melandri was the next man in trouble, as both Biaggi and Gibernau moved in and went through, and then several riders retired in quick session. Capirossi was the first of them, withdrawing to the pits, and then both Nobuatsu Aoki (Proton) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati) fell, with the Australian sliding into the gravel to end his team’s race very early.

At the front, Rossi made his move past Barros on the inside through a right hand bend, and the Brazilian found Biaggi and Gibernau now on his tail. A speedy Noriyuki Haga, on the Aprilia ‘Cube,’ moved through to join the top six, behind Ukawa, but it was the RCV men looking most racy. Rossi was getting away from Barros and, in turn, the trio of Ukawa (after passing his stablemates), Biaggi and Gibernau were putting pressure on the Gauloises machine.

However, at this point the rain began to fall, particularly at the far side from the pits, and the race was stopped. The restart would place the riders in the order they had been as the red flag came out, but a delay would allow them to change their machines over to the appropriate wet weather tyres and settings. Most riders opted for ‘wets,’ but a few felt that a cut slick on the rear might pay off if the track started drying. These included Biaggi and Ukawa, who had to start from the pitlane after making their decisions late.

At the restart, Barros was away first, leading Rossi and Gibernau. The Aprilias of Haga and Colin Edwards came next, with Garry McCoy (Kawasaki) and Jeremy McWilliams (Proton) next. The Camel Pramac Pons duo of Biaggi and Ukawa had a lot to do at this stage. As they got into their rhythm, the pace on a wet surface was fairly cautious. In conditions that usually suit him, Gibernau now moved up to second at the expense of the champion. The first three seemed in a class of their own, and gradually pulled clear of the pack.

Haga maintained fourth, but was soon leading McWilliams, who came past both Edwards and McCoy. The Ulsterman was riding well on a Proton KR3, in the 500cc machine’s last outing before the V5 four-stroke was due to take over. Also going well was Barros’ Yamaha team-mate, Olivier Jacque, giving the French crowd something to cheer about. His progress was aided by further retirements, as both Makoto Tamada and Andrew Pitt went out at this stage.

Lap times started falling now, thanks to the circuit drying out, and the first three looked to be on a hot pace. Gibernau made a spirited attempt to go by Barros, and the pair ran side by side through several corners before Alex fended off his rival. Meanwhile, Jacque had passed Haga and McWilliams for fourth, but Edwards was going backwards as McCoy, Biaggi and Ukawa successively moved up. The Texan was followed by Abe, débutant Ryuichi Kiyonari, and Nicky Hayden.

The action at the front kept the crowd’s attention during the closing stages. Rossi set a fastest lap, and went inside Gibernau at the final right-hander, only for the Spaniard to go back through. With only five laps remaining, Sete took the lead away from Barros on the inside of a right-hander, and ‘the Doctor’ followed him through in the same moment. While Gibernau upped his pace, Barros tried to find a way to repass Rossi.

Unfortunately for the Yamaha man, he wasn’t able to respond as the two RC211V pilots stretched out of reach. When the front pair went into the penultimate lap, Rossi slid his way round the inside of the last corner, moving into the lead of the race. Gibernau was obviously trying hard as he kept right with the Italian, attacking where he could. And Barros also seemed to have another spurt as he looked like catching some ground back at the last.

On the final lap, Gibernau overtook Rossi into a left-hander, his bike twitching with the effort. But it wasn’t over yet. Towards the end of the lap, Rossi had his machine ahead on the brakes into a right, but was moving too quickly and went wide. Sete was instantly back in front, but Valentino was undeterred. He tried the same manoeuvre almost immediately, but with the same result. It was a thrilling end, as Gibernau had just done enough for his second win of the year.

Barros took an easy third, with team-mate Jacque raising a cheer as he followed a few seconds later. A late surge from Biaggi had moved him into fifth, leading home the impressive McWilliams, Ukawa, Haga, McCoy, Edwards, Abe and Hayden. Ducati’s bad day dropped them places in the points table, while Yamaha’s leading riders moved forward with an encouraging performance for the Gauloises team. But of course it is still Honda’s riders that are leading the way, in the Repsol, Camel and Telefónica colours.

Standings after four races: Rossi 90; Biaggi 67; Gibernau 63; Barros 46; Bayliss 40; Ukawa 32; Jacque 26; Nakano and Hayden 22; Abe and Edwards 18.


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