1978 French motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1978 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 5–7 May 1978 at the Circuit de Nogaro.

  1978 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 4 of 13 races in the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	7 May 1978
Official name	Grand Prix de France[1]
Location	Circuit de Nogaro
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.120 km (1.939 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Johnny Cecotto Time 1:24.850 Fastest lap Rider Kenny Roberts Time 1:22.800 Podium First Kenny Roberts Second Pat Hennen Third Barry Sheene
350 cc
Pole position Rider Olivier Chevallier Time 1:26.450 Fastest lap Rider Gregg Hansford Time 1:24.500 Podium First Gregg Hansford Second Kork Ballington Third Jon Ekerold
250 cc
Pole position Rider Patrick Fernandez Time 1:27.690 Fastest lap Rider Gregg Hansford Time 1:25.800 Podium First Gregg Hansford Second Kenny Roberts Third Kork Ballington
125 cc
Pole position Rider Thierry Espié Time 1:31.760 Fastest lap Rider Pierpaolo Bianchi Time 1:30.300 Podium First Pierpaolo Bianchi Second Eugenio Lazzarini Third Per-Edward Carlsson
Sidecar (B2A)
Pole position Rider Alain Michel Time 1:29.100 Fastest lap Rider Rolf Biland Time 1:29.600 Podium First Rolf Biland Second Alain Michel Third Mac Hobson

Classification

500 cc

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	1	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	56'42.500	15
2	3	Pat Hennen		Suzuki	+10.500	12
3	7	Barry Sheene	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	+29.700	10
4	2	Christian Estrosi		Suzuki	+37.200	8
5	9	Wil Hartog	Riemersma Racing	Suzuki	+1'07.300	6
6	31	Graziano Rossi	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	+1 lap	5
7	5	Steve Parrish		Suzuki	+1 lap	4
8	23	Jean-Philippe Orban	Team La Licorne	Suzuki	+1 lap	3
9	48	Carlo Perugini		Suzuki	+2 laps	2
10	52	Kenny Blake		Yamaha	+2 laps	1
11	43	Alex George		Suzuki	+2 laps
12	51	Marc Chabert		Yamaha	+2 laps
13	15	John Woodley	Sid Griffiths Racing	Suzuki	+2 laps
14	37	Franz Rau	Kazenmaier Autovermietung	Suzuki	+3 laps
15	25	Børge Nielsen		Suzuki	+3 laps
16	38	Gerhard Vogt		Suzuki	+3 laps
17	18	Virginio Ferrari	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	+4 laps
18	11	John Newbold	Ray Hamblin Motorcycles	Suzuki	+4 laps
19	26	Kimmo Kopra		Yamaha	+4 laps
20	16	Philippe Coulon	Marlboro Nava Total	Suzuki	+7 laps
21		Boet van Dulmen		Suzuki	+11 laps
22		Gianfranco Bonera	Team Kiwi Yamoto	Suzuki	+12 laps
23		Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	+16 laps
24		Alain Beraud		Yamaha	+18 laps
Ret		Michel Rougerie		Suzuki	Retired
Ret		Pierre Tocco		Yamaha	Accident
Ret		Jean-Paul Boinet		Buton	Retired
Ret		Leslie van Breda		Suzuki	Retired
Ret		Eddie Roberts		Suzuki	Retired
Ret		Teuvo Länsivuori		Suzuki	Retired
Ret		René Gutknecht		Suzuki	Retired
Ret		Bruno Kneubühler	RSS Racing Team	Suzuki	Retired
Ret		Jack Findlay		Suzuki	Retired
Ret		Steve Wright	Len Manchester Motorcycles	Yamaha	Retired
Ret		Takazumi Katayama	Sarome & Motul Team	Yamaha	Accident
Ret		Marco Lucchinelli	Cagiva Corse	Suzuki	Clutch
DNS		Ikujiro Takai	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	Did not start
DNS		Leandro Becheroni		Suzuki	Did not start
Sources: [2][3][4]

350cc

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	16	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki	36	51:29.2	3	15
2	5	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	36	+7.8	2	12
3	3	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha	36	+46.8	12	10
4	2	Tom Herron	Yamaha	36	+54.3		8
5	31	Vic Soussan	Yamaha	36	+1:09.1	8	6
6	1	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	36	+1:11.3	5	5
7	6	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	36	+1:18.3	1	4
8	29	Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha	36	+1:23.8		3
9	41	Raymond Roche	Yamaha	36	+1:24.5	4	2
10	4	Michel Rougerie	Yamaha	35	+1 lap		1
11	10	Mick Grant	Kawasaki	35	+1 lap	11
12	49	Clive Padgett	Yamaha	35	+1 lap
13	19	Sadao Asami	Yamaha	35	+1 lap
14	21	Franco Bonera	Yamaha	35	+1 lap
15	11	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	35	+1 lap
16	34	Michel Frutschi	Yamaha	35	+1 lap
17	30	Leif Gustafsson	Yamaha	35	+1 lap
18	40	Denis Boulom	Yamaha	34	+2 laps
19	24	Eero Hyvärinen	Yamaha	33	+3 laps
20	57	Michel Rastel	Yamaha	33	+3 laps
		Guy Bertin	Yamaha			6
		Christian Sarron	Yamaha			7
		John Dodds	Yamaha			9
		Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha			10
36 starters in total, 21 finishers
[4]

250cc

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	25	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki	33	48:22.1	2	15
2	20	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha	33	+2.1	7	12
3	6	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	33	+25.1	4	10
4	8	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha	33	+48.9		8
5	5	Tom Herron	Yamaha	33	+1:07.1		6
6	37	Raymond Roche	Yamaha	33	+1:12.7	3	5
7	12	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	33	+1:15.9	9	4
8	4	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	33	+1:22.6	6	3
9	21	Vic Soussan	Yamaha	33	+1:22.9	12	2
10	34	Guy Bertin	Yamaha	33	+1:23.3	8	1
11	2	Franco Uncini	Yamaha	33	+1:30.2	10
12	48	Clive Padgett	Yamaha	32	+1 lap
13	27	Hervé Moineau	Yamaha	32	+1 lap
14	39	Sadao Asami	Yamaha	32	+1 lap
15	16	Leif Gustafsson	Yamaha	32	+1 lap
16	40	Jean-Claude Meilland	Yamaha	32	+1 lap
17	31	Jacques Cornu	Yamaha	32	+1 lap
18	46	Pierre Tocco	Yamaha	32	+1 lap	11
19	51	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha	31	+2 laps
20	22	Josef Hage	Yamaha	31	+2 laps
		Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha			1
		Jean-François Baldé	Kawasaki			5
36 starters in total, 24 finishers
[4]

125cc

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	1	Pierpaolo Bianchi	Minarelli	32	50:21.3	2	15
2	2	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA	32	+12.5	3	12
3	33	Per-Edward Carlson	Morbidelli	32	+33.7	5	10
4	9	Maurizio Massimiani	Morbidelli	32	+37.0	7	8
5	4	Jean-Louis Guignabodet	Bender	32	+1:30.9	6	6
6	18	Thierry Noblesse	Morbidelli	31	+1 lap	9	5
7	32	Matti Kinnunen	Morbidelli	31	+1 lap	12	4
8	36	Patrick Plisson	Morbidelli	31	+1 lap	8	3
9	6	Harald Bartol	Morbidelli	31	+1 lap	11	2
10	48	Daniel Meyer	Morbidelli	31	+1 lap		1
11	46	Claude Gorry	Morbidelli	31	+1 lap
12	7	Stefan Dörflinger	Morbidelli	30	+2 laps	10
13	27	Bennie Wilbers	Morbidelli	30	+2 laps
14	29	Johann Parzer	Morbidelli	30	+2 laps
15	28	Ernst Fagerer	Morbidelli	30	+2 laps
16	19	Yves Dupont	Morbidelli	29	+3 laps
17	45	Jacques Hutteau	Morbidelli	29	+3 laps
18	42	Pierluigi Conforti	Morbidelli	27	+5 laps
19	16	Bernd Schneider	Bender	27	+5 laps
20	23	Karl Fuchs	Morbidelli	22	+10 laps
		Thierry Espié	Motobécane			1
		Hans Müller	Morbidelli			4
32 starters in total, 20 finishers
[4]

Sidecar classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	2	Rolf Biland	Kenny Williams	Beo-Yamaha	30	46:25.2	2	15
2	5	Alain Michel	Stu Collins	Seymaz-Yamaha	30	+2.0	1	12
3	10	Mac Hobson	Ken Birch	Yamaha	30	+48.5	7	10
4	1	George O'Dell	Cliff Holland	Seymaz-Yamaha	30	+1:25.9		8
5	8	Bruno Holzer	Karl Meierhans	LCR-Yamaha	30	+1:25.4	8	6
6	3	Werner Schwärzel	Andreas Huber	Fath	29	+1 lap	6	5
7	19	Jock Taylor	Lewis Ward	Windle-Yamaha	29	+1 lap		4
8	6	Göte Brodin	Per-Erik Wickström	Yamaha	29	+1 lap		3
9	15	Bill Hodgkins	John Parkins	Windle-Yamaha	29	+1 lap		2
10	23	Gérard Corbaz	Roland Gabriel	Schmid-Yamaha	29	+1 lap		1
11	16	John Barker	Nick Cutmore	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
12	36	Ernst Trachsel	Andreas Stager	TTM-Suzuki	29	+1 lap	9
13	12	Siegfried Schauzu	Lorenzo Puzo	Busch-Yamaha	28	+2 laps
14	30	Bernard Chabert	Patrick Jourdain	GEP-Yamaha	28	+2 laps
15	33	Jean-Claude Jaquet	René Delarre	Yamaha	28	+2 laps
		Jean-François Monnin	Philippe Miserez	Seymaz-Yamaha			3
		Yvan Troillet	Pierre Muller	GEP-Yamaha			4
		Rolf Steinhausen	Wolfgang Kalauch	Seymaz-Yamaha			5
		Hermann Huber	Bernd Schappacher	König			10
24 starters in total, 18 finishers
[4]

References

1. "Alle Grand-Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden, van 1973 (het jaar dat Jack begon met racen) tot heden". Archive.li. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
2. "1978 French MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motorsportmagazine.com. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
3. "motogp.com · FRENCH GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1978". Motogp.com. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
4. Coleman, Barry (ed.). Motocourse 1978-1979. Hazleton Securities Ltd. p. 81. ISBN 0-905138-06-6.