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	HRC-Honda	NS500	47'47.900	15
2	Marco Lucchinelli	HRC-Honda	NS500	+14.990	12
3	Ron Haslam	HRC-Honda	NS500	+36.280	10
4	Kenny Roberts	Marlboro Agostini-Yamaha	YZR500	+44.110	8
5	Keith Huewen	Heron-Suzuki	RG500	+44.850	6
6	Marc Fontan	Sonauto Gauloises-Yamaha	YZR500	+45.720	5
7	Barry Sheene	Heron Suzuki	RG500	+46.090	4
8	Guido Paci		RS500	+1'30.190	3
9	Sergio Pellandini	Carimati-Pezzani Racing	RG500	+1'33.850	2
10	Jack Middelburg	Stichting Ned-Honda	RS500	+1'35.820	1
11	Wolfgang von Muralt		RG500	+1'39.650
12	Philippe Coulon	Marlboro-Suzuki	RG500	+1'43.140
13	Peter Sjöström	Jeb's Helmet Sweden	RG500	+1 lap
14	Maurizio Massimiani	Honda Italia	RS500	+1 lap
15	Louis-Luc Maisto		RG500	+1 lap
16	Walter Magliorati	Moto Club Carate	RG500	+1 lap
17	Stuart Avant		RG500	+1 lap
18	Ernst Gschwender	MO Motul Racing Team	RG500	+1 lap
19	Jon Ekerold	Cagiva	GP500	+3 laps
Ret	Paolo Ferretti		YZR500	Accident
Ret	Alain Röthlisberger		YZR500	Retirement
Ret	Marco Greco		RG500	Accident
Ret	Steve Parrish	Mitsui-Yamaha	YZR500	Accident
Ret	Chris Guy		RG500	Accident
Ret	Eero Hyvärinen		RG500	Retirement
Ret	Virginio Ferrari	Cagiva	GP500	Retirement
Ret	Leandro Becheroni		RG500	Accident
Ret	Michel Frutschi	Honda Switzerland	RS500	Fatal accident
Ret	Didier de Radiguès	Team Johnson Elf	RS500	Accident
Ret	Franco Uncini	HB Gallina-Suzuki	RG500	Accident
Ret	Raymond Roche	Moto Club Paul Ricard	RS500	Retired
Ret	Gustav Reiner		RG500	Accident
Ret	Eddie Lawson	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	Collision
Ret	Randy Mamola	HB Sinclair-Suzuki	RG500	Collision
Ret	Jean Lafond	Claude Fior	Fior	Accident
Ret	Andreas Hofmann		RG500	Accident
DNS	Boet van Dulmen	Shell Nederland-Suzuki	RG500	Injury
DNS	Iwao Ishikawa		RS500	Fatal accident
DNS	Takazumi Katayama	HRC-Honda	NS500	Injury
Sources:[7][8]

References