Australian Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen won his first MotoGP victory when he upstaged the favourites in a rain-hit French Grand Prix on Sunday.
Vermeulen beat last year’s winner Marco Melandri of Italy on a Honda after coping perfectly with the tricky conditions on the 4,18km Le Mans circuit.
Casey Stoner of Australia steered his Ducati to third place to extend his lead at the top of the world championship standings to 21 points over Italian Valentino Rossi.
Seven-time world champion Rossi, who has been struggling all weekend, finished sixth behind Spain’s Dani Pedrosa and Germany’s Alex Hofmann.
Rossi, starting on the front row for the first time this season, took the lead after a couple of corners but was soon attacked by local favourites Randy de Puniet and Sylvain Guintoli.
Kawasaki rider De Puniet took command of the race after five laps with Rossi suddenly dropping back four places.
With drizzle turning into heavier rain 20 laps from the finish line, Guintoli, De Puniet and Toni Elias crashed and John Hopkins took the lead.
The American made a pit stop along with Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa on the 10th lap to change tyres. Melandri opted against a change and he was soon overtaken by Vermeulen.
The Australian, whose best previous result was second place in last year’s rain-hit Australian GP behind Melandri, never looked back. — Reuters