French GP. Previous Info

Repsol riders will defend their leadership in Le Mans
After the intense start of the 2002 season, the World Championship gets back to the usual rhythm in Europe. This weekend the Le Mans Circuit, close to the French capital, will host the Grand Prix de France, fourth scoring round of the Motorcycling World Championship. With Valentino Rossi leading the classification followed by his teammate Tour Ukawa, who is second with a difference of 29 points, the attention of this weekend, will probably be drawn by the fight for the leadership between both Repsol riders. Valentino has taken two victories, Japan and Spain, and one second place out of three races, while his teammate Ukawa crashed out in Japan, won in South Africa and finished third in Spain. Fonsi Nieto became the great star and the local hero in Jerez. In a spectacular race, something he is getting us used to, he made up ground, climbing from fourth place to the head of the race, leaving the Grand Prix leader, the Italian Rolfo, more than one second behind. His victory in Jerez has allowed him to take over the lead in the overall classification, a position Fonsi intends to keep after the French Grand Prix. For Elías, who is still busy with his learning process and solving some setup problems, France will be a good place to keep on working, since it was here, in France, where he managed to get on the World Championship 125cc podium last year, for the first time in his sports career. And in the smallest category, Alberto Puig’s pupils arrive to a difficult and very technical track that will be especially demanding for them, with regard to work and perseverance. Last season things didn’t work quite well neither Dani Pedrosa, who finished seventeenth nor for Joan Olivé who had to get back to the pits after an engine failure. Having more experience and knowing the circuit will obviously be of great help in Le Mans. Pedrosa and Olivé, fourth and ninth resp. in the Spanish Grand Prix, will surely try at least to repeat the results obtained in Jerez.