Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo has re-taken the MotoGP championship lead with victory at Le Mans this afternoon as Valentino Rossi bagged his first podium of 2012, going past auld enemy Casey Stoner on the last lap for a carbon copy of his result at the French track this time last year.
Lorenzo took the lead halfway around lap one and never looked back, gapping Stoner and pole position man Dani Pedrosa, and controlled the race from the front while Rossi picked his way past Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso before going underneath the reigning champion on the brakes into Dunlop as Stoner ran out of grip.
Crutchlow had been fighting for a podium spot, holding third when he passed Rossi, who had a fogging visor, with 16 laps to go but team-mate Dovizioso wasn't letting the Briton get away and also went under Rossi a corner later.
He then put a move on Crutchlow for the last podium spot two laps later and Crutchlow tried to respond into the first chicane, where he crashed in morning warm-up, and lost the front. He re-joined in eighth and crossed the line to take some points. It wasn't over for the Tech3 team, though, as Dovizioso then slid off with four to go but he also re-joined to finish one place ahead of the Briton.
This left Rossi with space behind him and a Repsol Honda target in front. He duly reeled in the Australian to take his first podium of 2012. The Monster Yamaha crashes promoted Pedrosa into fourth place and rookie Stefan Bradl to fifth place.
Nicky Hayden took sixth place, ahead of Crutchlow and Dovizioso, while Hector Barbera and Alvaro Bautista rounded out the top ten.
James Ellison took advantage of the conditions and two crashes from Randy De Puniet to take top spot in the CRT class. The Kendal man finished in 11th place overall, passing Mattia Pasini in the latter stages to take a hatful of points. De Puniet crashed on the start line, spinning up the rear as he went over Ben Spies' grid position - the Texan had done the same thing but managed to stay on.
Spies was almost last into turn one and then pitted in with a problem, thought to be a fogged visor, came back out but could only manage a 16th place finish. Returning Aussie Chris Vermeulen was one place behind in 17th.
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