1991 Vitesse du Mans Grand Prix

Race details
Race 14 of 15 races in the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	8 September 1991
Official name	Grand Prix Vitesse Du Mans
Location	Bugatti Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.425 km (2.750 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider John Kocinski Time 1:39.964 Fastest lap Rider Mick Doohan Time 1:41.200 Podium First Kevin Schwantz Second Mick Doohan Third Wayne Rainey
250 cc
Pole position Rider Luca Cadalora Time 1:44.963 Fastest lap Rider Helmut Bradl Time 1:45.375 Podium First Helmut Bradl Second Carlos Cardús Third Luca Cadalora

The 1991 Vitesse du Mans motorcycle Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 6–8 September 1991 at the Bugatti Circuit located in Le Mans. France.

Originally meant to be held in Brazil, that race was cancelled for safety reasons, so the FIM decided to add a second French round. It is the only time in FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing history two rounds were held in France during a season. The race's name was used for this race only, after the European Grand Prix moniker had been used for a race in Jarama that replaced the Yugoslavian race.

500 cc race report

John Kocinski on pole. Kevin Schwantz gets the start from Kocinski, Mick Doohan, Wayne Gardner and Wayne Rainey.

Schwantz and Doohan battle for 1st, but at ten laps to go, Rainey just needs to stay in 3rd place to win the championship.

Rainey speculates that Kocinski let him take 3rd so he could win the championship, though he told team manager Kenny Roberts he didn't want Kocinski's help.

Kenny Roberts: "There were a lot of races where we shouldn't have won, and we really wouldn't have won if it wasn't for Wayne. There's a lot of races where had we had anyone else, it wouldn't have happened. Wayne was very, very determined to win it this year. Some years you can say the bikes were definitely better or our engineering was better, but this year Wayne was definitely better."^[1]

500cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Kevin Schwantz	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	47:37.764	20
2	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+0.148	17
3	Wayne Rainey	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	+3.468	15
4	John Kocinski	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	+3.700	13
5	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+3.966	11
6	Juan Garriga	Ducados Yamaha	Yamaha	+37.852	10
7	Doug Chandler	Roberts B Team	Yamaha	+38.342	9
8	Didier de Radiguès	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	+39.290	8
9	Sito Pons	Campsa Honda Team	Honda	+1:30.554	7
10	Adrien Morillas	Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+1:45.040	6
11	Eddie Laycock	Millar Racing	Yamaha	+1 Lap	5
12	Niall Mackenzie	Roberts B Team	Yamaha	+1 Lap	4
13	Marco Papa	Team Marco Papa	Honda	+2 Laps	3
14	Andreas Leuthe	Librenti Corse	Suzuki	+2 Laps	2
15	Damon Buckmaster	Padgett's Racing Team	Suzuki	+5 Laps	1
Ret	Cees Doorakkers	HEK-Baumachines	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Jean Philippe Ruggia	Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Michael Rudroff	Rallye Sport	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Hans Becker	Team Romero Racing	Yamaha	Retirement
DNS	Eddie Lawson	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Did not start
DNQ	Nicholas Schmassman	Schmassman Technotron	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Helmut Schutz	Rallye Sport	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Martin Trösch	MT Racing	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Josef Doppler	Doppler Racing	Yamaha	Did not qualify
Sources: [2][3]

References