1991 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 10 of 15 races in the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	21 July 1991
Official name	Grand Prix de France [1]
Location	Circuit Paul Ricard
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.812 km (2.369 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:21.571 Fastest lap Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:22.108 Podium First Wayne Rainey Second Mick Doohan Third Eddie Lawson
250 cc
Pole position Rider Helmut Bradl Time 1:25.955 Fastest lap Rider Loris Reggiani Time 1:25.965 Podium First Loris Reggiani Second Helmut Bradl Third Carlos Cardús
125 cc
Pole position Rider Noboru Ueda Time 1:32.538 Fastest lap Rider Ralf Waldmann Time 1:32.422 Podium First Loris Capirossi Second Ralf Waldmann Third Fausto Gresini

The 1991 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 19–21 July 1991 at the Paul Ricard circuit

500 cc race report

Wayne Rainey started on pole, Mick Doohan started 2nd at .5 second, John Kocinski started 3rd and Kevin Schwantz started 4th on the grid. Doohan got the start from Schwantz, Eddie Lawson and Rainey. After a bad start, Kocinski crashed out hard on the first lap.

By the end of the first lap, Rainey is showing Doohan a front wheel and it's a 2-man fight for 1st very early with a 4-man group fighting for 3rd.

Rainey takes the lead from Doohan and Lawson and Schwantz remain behind to determine 3rd place.

On the last lap, Rainey expertly zigzags across the Mistral Straight, preventing Doohan from draft-passing, and Lawson wins his fight from Schwantz.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	44:13.070	20
2	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+4.000	17
3	Eddie Lawson	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	+23.646	15
4	Kevin Schwantz	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	+23.730	13
5	Jean Philippe Ruggia	Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+31.387	11
6	Doug Chandler	Roberts B Team	Yamaha	+49.660	10
7	Didier de Radiguès	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	+55.097	9
8	Adrien Morillas	Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+1:12.584	8
9	Sito Pons	Campsa Honda Team	Honda	+1:17.300	7
10	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+2 Laps	6
11	Juan Garriga	Ducados Yamaha	Yamaha	+2 Laps	5
12	Cees Doorakkers	HEK-Baumachines	Honda	+2 Laps	4
13	Marco Papa	Team Marco Papa	Honda	+2 Laps	3
14	Michael Rudroff	Rallye Sport	Honda	+2 Laps	2
15	Josef Doppler	Doppler Racing	Yamaha	+3 Laps	1
Ret	Nicholas Schmassman	Schmassman Technotron	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Hans Becker	Team Romero Racing	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	John Kocinski	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	Retirement
DNS	Raymond Roche	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Did not start
DNQ	Andreas Leuthe	Librenti Corse	Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Helmut Schutz	Rallye Sport	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Martin Trösch	MT Racing	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Damon Buckmaster	Padgett's Racing Team	Suzuki	Did not qualify
Sources: [2] [3]

References