1978 French motorcycle Grand Prix

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
Location	Circuit Automobile Paul Armagnac Nogaro
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.120 km (1.939 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha
Time	1:24.85
Fastest lap
Rider	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
Time	1:22.8
Podium
First	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
Second	Pat Hennen	Suzuki
Third	Barry Sheene	Suzuki
350 cc
Pole position
Rider	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha
Time	1:26.45
Fastest lap
Rider	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki
Time	1:24.5
Podium
First	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki
Second	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki
Third	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha
Time	1:27.69
Fastest lap
Rider	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki
Time	1:25.8
Podium
First	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki
Second	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
Third	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Thierry Espié	Motobécane
Time	1:31.76
Fastest lap
Rider	Pierpaolo Bianchi	Minarelli
Time	1:30.3
Podium
First	Pierpaolo Bianchi	Minarelli
Second	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA
Third	Per-Edward Carlsson	Morbidelli
Sidecars
Pole position
Rider	Alain Michel	Seymaz-Yamaha
Passenger	Stu Collins	Seymaz-Yamaha
Time	1:29.10
Fastest lap
Rider	Rolf Biland	Beo-Yamaha
Passenger	Kenny Williams	Beo-Yamaha
Time	1:29.6
Podium
First	Rolf Biland	Beo-Yamaha
First	Kenny Williams	Beo-Yamaha
Second	Alain Michel	Seymaz-Yamaha
Second	Stu Collins	Seymaz-Yamaha
Third	Mac Hobson	Yamaha
Third	Ken Birch	Yamaha

The 1978 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 7 May 1978 at the Nogaro circuit.

500 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	1	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha	40	56:42.5	3	15
2	3	Pat Hennen	Suzuki	40	+10.5	5	12
3	7	Barry Sheene	Suzuki	40	+29.7	2	10
4	2	Christian Estrosi	Suzuki	40	+37.2	6	8
5	9	Wil Hartog	Suzuki	40	+1:07.3	14	6
6	31	Graziano Rossi	Suzuki	39	+1 lap	10	5
7	5	Steve Parrish	Suzuki	39	+1 lap	11	4
8	23	Jean-Philippe Orban	Suzuki	39	+1 lap		3
9	48	Carlo Perugini	Suzuki	38	+2 laps		2
10	52	Kenny Blake	Yamaha	38	+2 laps		1
11	43	Alex George	Suzuki	38	+2 laps
12	51	Marc Chabert	Yamaha	38	+2 laps
13	15	John Woodley	Suzuki	38	+2 laps
14	37	Franz Rau	Suzuki	37	+3 laps
15	25	Børge Nielsen	Suzuki	37	+3 laps
16	38	Gerhard Vogt	Suzuki	37	+3 laps
17	18	Virginio Ferrari	Suzuki	36	+4 laps	9
18	11	John Newbold	Suzuki	36	+4 laps
19	26	Kimmo Kopra	Yamaha	36	+4 laps
20	16	Philippe Coulon	Suzuki	33	+5 laps	17
		Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha			1
		Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha			4
		Michel Rougerie	Suzuki			7
		Tepi Länsivuori	Suzuki			8
		Franco Bonera	Suzuki			12
		Pierre Tocco	Yamaha			13
		Boet van Dulmen	Suzuki			15
		Marco Lucchinelli	Suzuki			16
36 starters in total, 24 finishers
^[1]

350 cc classification

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
^[1]

250 cc classification

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
^[1]

125 cc classification

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
^[1]

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
^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 5 Coleman, Barry (ed.). Motocourse 1978-1979. Hazleton Securities Ltd. p. 81. ISBN 0-905138-06-6.

Previous race: 1978 Austrian Grand Prix	FIM Grand Prix World Championship 1978 season	Next race: 1978 Nations Grand Prix
Previous race: 1977 French Grand Prix	French Grand Prix	Next race: 1979 French Grand Prix

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