Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli finished in the points with 13th place in a warm and sunny French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

It was a determined performance by Morbidelli who started 16th and looked set for top ten finish after he had forced his way to ninth on lap five and then into eight place three laps later.

But the young Italian could not maintain the pace to hold on for a top ten finish in his debut MotoGP appearance on the demanding 4.2km Bugatti Circuit.

Tom Luthi finished in 16th missing the points by just one position with a patient performance in a tough race through the traffic from 21st on the grid.

The next race is the Italian GP at Mugello on June 3.

Franco Morbidelli: 13th, +37.881

“It was a decent race. We did a good start but then after some laps I have to slow down my pace a lot because I didn’t have the right feeling with the rear tyre. But apart from that, I think the race and the weekend have been positive. We are improving in every race and I’m sure that we can do better results in the next few races.”

Tom Lüthi: 16th, +45.260

“The race was much better than the result shows. I lost too much time in the first five laps when I did not have the feeling with the front and I was stuck with the last group. But in the second half of the race I was catching the group in which Franco scored points so this was a little disappointing. But there were a lot of positives out of this race so that’s what I will take to Mugello.”