2010 MotoGP - Le Mans Photo Gallery

Rossi started the weekend strong in France at the Le Mans circuit with the best lap time during free practice on Friday in the 2010 MotoGP series.

Jorge Lorenzo was able to overcome an electronics issue during Le Mans practice to take the third best time of the day.

After making adjustments to a new set of handlebars, Casey Stoner put in the second-fastest time on the Le Mans circuit in the 2010 MotoGP series.

Andre Dovizioso took the fourth best time of practice at Le Mans 2010 ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa.

As the only French rider in the premier class, Randy de Puniet had the 14th quickest time today in practice. Randy and his team were searching for chassis and braking improvements throughout the day and have yet to determine the correct setup for Sunday's race.

Dani Pedrosa rounded out the top five in Friday's practice at Le Mans and was the last rider to have a time under 1’35”.

Kentucky rider Nicky Hayden has yet to secure a front row start or earn a podium at the Le Mans circuit. He ended Friday's practice with the seventh best lap.

Nicky Hayden had a top laptime of 1.35.223, which was just under a second off Rossi's pace in Friday's practice at Le Mans.

Randy de Puniet placed sixth in Saturaday's qualifying at Le mans, giving him a start at his home track from Row 2.

Honda's Andre Dovizioso took the seventh-quickest time during Saturday's qualifying and will start from Row 3 at Le Mans.

Hiroshi Aoyama took 14th during qualifying at Le mans 2010.

Kenny Noyes took the top time in Saturday's qualifying session at Le Mans with a time of 1’39.234.

With a time that came late in the qualifying session, Dani Pedrosa took third on Saturday at Le Mans during Round 3 of the 2010 MotoGP series.

Valentino Rossi dominated the hour-long free practice session on Friday, setting the best time of 1’34.402 aboard his Yamaha YZR-M1.

Rossi's recent bike alterations seem to have paid off. He felt comfortable on his M1 and was able to be fast consistently during practice on Friday at Le Mans.

Nicky Hayden posted a best time of 1.33.845 in Saturday's qualifying session at Le Mans during the third round of the 2010 MotoGP series.

Casey Stoner qualified fourth at Le Mans and will be attempting to gain back some of his points in Sunday's race.

Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi qualified ninth in Saturday's practice session at Le Mans with a time of 1'34.306.

Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista rode with painkillers during Friday's practice at Le Mans and had had a time that was three seconds off Rossi's pace.

Andre Dovizioso: "I cannot be happy to start from the third row at Le mans because this has the potential to make the race more complicated. So it will be important to make a good start and stay with the front group - that’s the plan now. Our race pace is not so bad but we need to improve it a little more.

Casey Stoner: "In general the bike is going really well, our race pace is more competitive than it was at this stage of the weekend in Jerez so I’m confident we can do a good job tomorrow at Le Mans.”

Casey Stoner at le Mans for Round 3 of the 2010 MotoGP series.

Dani Pedrosa: "At the end of the session we were able to put in a good final lap which has put us on the front row at Le Mans, and this is very important because the lap times are very close here.

Nicky Hayden qualified just behind his teammate Casey Stoner at Le Mans 2010.

Nicky Hayden: “The second row for us is a positive result because to be honest my race pace hasn’t been great and now we’ve given ourselves a chance because the start is so important here at Le Mans."

Although Nicky Hayden qualified fifth at Le Mans, he has admitted that he still has work to do if he's going to be competitive in Sunday's race.

Nicky Hayden at Le Mans during Round 3 of the 2010 MotoGP series.

Valentino Rossi along with teammate Jorge Lorenzo took the top two qualifying spots at Le Mans during Round 3 of the 2010 MotoGP series.

Valentino Rossi: “I am still worried about my shoulder because after 10 or 15 laps today on the French circuit I started to lose power, but I hope adrenaline will take over in the race and that I will be able to stay fast right to the end.”

Valentino Rossi took his first superpole of the 2010 season at Le Mans during Round 3 of the 2010 MotoGP series.

Marco Simoncelli took 13th-place in qualifying on Saturday at the Le Mans circuit.

Andre Dovizioso won a thrilling last-lap battle for third-place with teammate Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans during the third round of the 2010 MotoGP season.

Andre Dovizioso (#4) begins his initial approach and eventual pass of Dani Pedrosa (#26) on the final lap at Le Mans.

Dani Pedrosa: “Well, of course I’m not satisfied to have finished at Le Mans in this way because we were able to stay near the leaders for the first part of the race and then dropped back. Losing two places on the final lap is not a good feeling. My start was okay and I could stay near the front in the first laps but later in the race I was making a lot of mistakes trying to maintain my pace."

Hiroshi Aoyama: “We found a much better set-up today at Le Mans and I was able to stay with the other riders. We were competitive today and I think we grew up. I think we can take a lot with us after this race and I hope we can keep improving. Of course I am not really happy with the result as I lost two positions because of a small mistake I did."

Toni Elias took his second win in a row at Le Mans during Round 3 of the 2010 MotoGP series.

Toni Elias had a difficult start at Le Mans but was able to come from a seventh-place start on the grid to win the race.

Toni Elias celebrates his win along with second-place Julian Simon and third-place Simone Corsi at Le Mans, 2010.

Casey Stoner took another DNF at Le Mans when he crashed during the second lap.

Nicky Hayden was able to squeeze by Pedrosa for a fourth-place finish at Le Mans.

Nicky Hayden took his third fourth-place finish of the 2010 MotoGP season at Le Mans.

Round 3 of the 2010 MotoGP series at Le Mans.

Andre Dovizioso took third-place at Le mans for his second podium finish of the 2010 season.

Loris Capirossi took a spill duriing the 2010 French GP and was unable to finish the race.

Jorge Lorenzo took back-to-back victories by winning at Kyalami and then Le Mans during the 2010 MotoGP series.

Jorge Lorenzo was able to take the win at Le Mans by over five seconds ahead of Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi.

Pedrosa, Lorenzo & Rossi (from foreground to background) hunt each other down at the Le Mans circuit in the 2010 MotoGP Championship series.

Valentino Rossi offered his congratulations to Jorge Lorenzo on his strong performance at Le Mans where the Spaniard outpaced him by nearly five seconds.

Valentino Rossi was able to take an early lead starting from pole posiiton but was soon overcome by the number 99 bike of Jorge Lorenzo.

After making the pass on Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo was able to slowly pull away from the doctor at the Le Mans track.

Riding as hard as he could, Nicky Hayden had an overall positive experience at Le Mans where he earned a fourth-place finish.

Although Rossi admits that he was powerless to stop Lorenzo from overtaking him at Le Mans, he also admits to not being too concerned as the 2010 MotoGP season is still incredibly young.

The Monster Yamaha team of Ben Spies and Colin Edwards had a rough weekend at Le Mans where they faced a DNF and a 12th-place finish by Edwards.

Jorge Lorenzo: "Passing Valentino wasn't so easy because he was braking so deep and I had to be very patient, something that I might not have managed one year ago! Finally I overtook him but I didn't expect to be able to go away in that way, my bike and Bridgestone tires just felt so good and it wasn't difficult for me to keep this pace up. I have had a good time in Le Mans since I joined Yamaha; one second and two victories, so I think I can say I enjoy racing here in France!"

Loris Capirossi: “In the Le Mans race I started steadily because the grip was not too good. After a couple of laps I felt a bit better and increased my rhythm and got past Colin, but in Turn 3 I crashed. I leaned in and just lost the front, I don’t know why it happened and this is the third time I’ve crashed on the front and we will have to discover what’s causing it."

2010 Le Mans was unusually sunny and had the added benefit of bringing out the beauties of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team.

2010 MotoGP - Le Mans Photo Gallery

See photos of the 2010 Le Mans Grand Prix in the 2010 MotoGP Le Mans photo gallery.