Miller conquers the rain to win French MotoGP

LE MANS, AFP: Australian rider Jack Miller made it back to back wins on his Ducati with a dramatic victory in a windy, rain-strewn French MotoGP at Le Mans yesterday.

Miller, who won the last race in Spain, finished ahead of French pair Johann Zarco, riding for Ducati’s satellite Pramac team, and Fabio Quartararo, on a Yamaha, who takes over the lead in the championship.

Quartararo, who has won two races this season and started on pole here, has 80 points, one more than Miller’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia who finished fourth. It was a major bonus for the Frenchman, coming just 12 days after undergoing ‘arm pump’ surgery following problems with his right forearm, which saw him slip to a 13th place finish last time out at Jerez.

The difficult conditions which saw rain sweeping across the Bugatti circuit led to numerous bikes sliding off the track, leading to a mass bike change for wet tyres when the race went ‘flag to flag’.