LE MANS, France: Australia's Casey Stoner recovered from a shaky start to seize victory Sunday in an eventful French Grand Prix where championship hopeful Dani Pedrosa crashed out and broke his collarbone again. Honda's Stoner began in pole position for the third time in four races but Pedrosa zoomed past him almost immediately only to lose the initiative soon afterwards. Stoner, who moved up to second overall just 12 points behind championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, then effortlessly pulled away from the pack to win by over 14 seconds and take his second victory of the season. Simoncelli was punished for the crash by stewards and suffered a ride-through penalty for an “illegal maneuver”, allowing compatriot Andrea Dovizioso to claim second having overtaken Ducati's Valentino Rossi late on. World champion Lorenzo came home a disappointing fourth as he struggled to get the best out of his Yamaha while Simoncelli finished fifth. Suter rider Marc Marquez won the Moto2 , the Spaniard coming in ahead of Japan's Yuki Takahashi on a Moriwaki with Germany's Stefan Bradl (Kalex) in third. Spain's Maverick Vinales on an Aprilia won the 125cc title. Vinales led a Spanish clean sweep of the podium with Nicolas Terol (Aprilia) in second place and Efren Vazquez (Derbi) third.
