1983 French motorcycle Grand Prix

  1983 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 12 races in the 1983 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	3 April 1983
Official name	Grand Prix de France[1][2][3]
Location	Bugatti Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.240 km (2.635 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Kenny Roberts Time 1:36.800 Fastest lap Rider Freddie Spencer Time 1:37.500 Podium First Freddie Spencer Second Marco Lucchinelli Third Ron Haslam
250 cc
Pole position Rider Christian Sarron Time 1:42.970 Fastest lap Rider Alan Carter Time 1:43.850 Podium First Alan Carter Second Jacques Cornu Third Thierry Rapicault
125 cc
Pole position Rider Ricardo Tormo Time 1:51.240 Fastest lap Rider Pierluigi Aldrovandi Time 2:00.250 Podium First Ricardo Tormo Second Jean-Claude Selini Third Maurizio Vitali
50 cc
Pole position Rider Stefan Dörflinger Fastest lap Rider Stefan Dörflinger Podium First Stefan Dörflinger Second Eugenio Lazzarini Third Hagen Klein
Sidecar (B2A)
Pole position Rider Rolf Biland Fastest lap Rider Rolf Biland Podium First Rolf Biland Second Mick Barton Third Werner Schwärzel

The 1983 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the second round of the 1983 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 2–3 April 1983 at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans.

This race was remembered for two fatal accidents that occurred over the weekend in the 500cc class. The first occurred during Friday practice when Italian rider Loris Reggiani collided with Japanese rider Iwao Ishikawa. Ishikawa died shortly after from severe injuries.^[4] In the race itself, defending winner Michel Frutschi crashed heavily and was taken to hospital, but later died.^[4][5][6]

Classification

500 cc

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Freddie Spencer	Honda Racing Corporation	Honda	47'47.900	15
2	Marco Lucchinelli	Honda Racing Corporation	Honda	+14.990	12
3	Ron Haslam	Honda Racing Corporation	Honda	+36.280	10
4	Kenny Roberts	Marlboro Team Agostini	Yamaha	+44.110	8
5	Keith Huewen	Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	+44.850	6
6	Marc Fontan	Team Sonauto Gauloises	Yamaha	+45.720	5
7	Barry Sheene	Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	+46.090	4
8	Guido Paci		Honda	+1'30.190	3
9	Sergio Pellandini	Carimati-Pezzani Racing	Suzuki	+1'33.850	2
10	Jack Middelburg	Stichting Racing Team	Honda	+1'35.820	1
11	Wolfgang von Muralt		Suzuki	+1'39.650
12	Philippe Coulon		Suzuki	+1'43.140
13	Peter Sjöström		Suzuki	+1 lap
14	Maurizio Massimiani	HIRT Italia	Honda	+1 lap
15	Louis-Luc Maisto		Suzuki	+1 lap
16	Walter Magliorati	Moto Club Carate	Suzuki	+1 lap
17	Stuart Avant		Suzuki	+1 lap
18	Ernst Gschwender	MO Motul Racing Team	Suzuki	+1 lap
19	Jon Ekerold		Cagiva	+3 laps
Ret	Paolo Ferretti		Yamaha	Accident
Ret	Alain Röthlisberger		Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Marco Greco		Suzuki	Accident
Ret	Steve Parrish	Team Mitsui Yamaha	Yamaha	Accident
Ret	Christophe Guyot		Suzuki	Accident
Ret	Eero Hyvärinen		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Virginio Ferrari		Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Leandro Becheroni		Suzuki	Accident
Ret	Michel Frutschi		Honda	Fatal accident
Ret	Didier de Radiguès	Team Johnson Elf	Honda	Accident
Ret	Franco Uncini	HB Suzuki GP Team	Suzuki	Accident
Ret	Raymond Roche		Honda	Retired
Ret	Gustav Reiner		Suzuki	Accident
Ret	Eddie Lawson	Marlboro Team Agostini	Yamaha	Collision
Ret	Randy Mamola	HB Suzuki GP Team	Suzuki	Collision
Ret	Jean Lafond		Fior	Accident
Ret	Andreas Hofmann		Suzuki	Accident
DNS	Boet van Dulmen		Suzuki	Injury
DNS	Iwao Ishikawa		Honda	Fatal accident
DNS	Takazumi Katayama	Honda Racing Corporation	Honda	Injury
Sources: [7][8]

References