1976 French motorcycle Grand Prix

  1976 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 12 races in the 1976 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	25 April 1976
Official name	Grand Prix de France
Location	Circuit Bugatti Le Mans
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.240 km (2.635 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Barry Sheene	Suzuki
Time	1:43.16
Fastest lap
Rider	Marco Lucchinelli	Suzuki
Time	1:41.4
Podium
First	Barry Sheene	Suzuki
Second	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha
Third	Marco Lucchinelli	Suzuki
350 cc
Pole position
Rider	Giacomo Agostini	MV Agusta
Time	1:45.60
Fastest lap
Rider	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson
Time	1:44.6
Podium
First	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson
Second	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha
Third	Jean-François Baldé	Yamaha
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson
Time	1:48.92
Fastest lap
Rider	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson
Time	1:47.8
Podium
First	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson
Second	Gianfranco Bonera	Harley-Davidson
Third	Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha
50 cc
Pole position
Rider	Ángel Nieto	Bultaco
Time	2:13.39
Fastest lap
Rider	Rudolf Kunz	Kreidler
Time	2:11.2
Podium
First	Herbert Rittberger	Kreidler
Second	Rudolf Kunz	Kreidler
Third	Stefan Dörflinger	Kreidler
Sidecars
Pole position
Rider	Werner Schwärzel	König
Passenger	Andreas Huber
Time	1:53.97
Fastest lap
Rider	Rolf Biland	Yamaha
Passenger	Ken Williams
Time	1:52.80
Podium
First	Rolf Biland	Yamaha
	Ken Williams
Second	Alain Michel	Yamaha
	Bernard Garcia
Third	Helmut Schilling	Aro
	Rainer Gundel

The 1976 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1976 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 25 April 1976 at the Circuit Bugatti Le Mans.

500 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	7	Barry Sheene	Suzuki	30	51:45.33	1	15
2	55	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha	30	+3.84	3	12
3	33	Marco Lucchinelli	Suzuki	30	+19.29	2	10
4	4	Tepi Länsivuori	Suzuki	30	+49.85	12	8
5	1	Giacomo Agostini	MV Agusta	30	+55.65	5	6
6	43	Victor Palomo	Yamaha	30	+1:27.66	9	5
7	56	Stu Avant	Suzuki	30	+1:28.24		4
8	13	Dieter Braun	Suzuki	30	+1:47.88		3
9	12	Karl Auer	Yamaha	29	+1 lap		2
10	51	Boet van Dulmen	Yamaha	29	+1 lap		1
11	19	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
12	45	Steve Parrish	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
13	11	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
14	25	Gilles Husson	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
15	6	Alex George	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
16	44	Edmar Ferreira	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
17	48	René Guili	Suzuki	28	+2 laps
18	30	Johnny Bengtsson	Suzuki	28	+2 laps
19	41	Helmut Kassner	Suzuki	28	+2 laps
20	36	Jules Nies	Suzuki	27	+3 laps
Ret		Christian Estrosi	Suzuki			4
Ret		John Williams	Suzuki			6
Ret		Phil Read	Suzuki			7
Ret		Nico Cereghini	Suzuki			8
Ret		Philippe Coulon	Suzuki			10
Ret		Michel Rougerie	Suzuki			11
35 starters in total
[1]

350 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	73	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson	30	52:45.01	4	15
2	1	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha	30	+17.91	3	12
3	24	Jean-François Baldé	Yamaha	30	+30.07	7	10
4	70	Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha	30	+37.05	2	8
5	44	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	30	+42.33	8	6
6	49	Paolo Tordi	Yamaha	30	+44.73	6	5
7	42	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	30	+57.12	5	4
8	3	Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha	30	+1:04.88		3
9	9	Tom Herron	Yamaha	30	+1:09.72		2
10	65	John Dodds	Yamaha	30	+1:16.94		1
11	52	Pekka Nurmi	Yamaha	30	+1:40.94
12	28	Alain Vial	Yamaha	30	+1:42.52
13	81	Claude Benelhadj	Yamaha	30	+1:56.00
14	46	Jean-Louis Olivier	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
15	32	Christian Bourgeois	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
16	47	Hervé Moineau	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
17	62	John Weeden	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
18	60	Alan North	Yamaha	25	+5 laps [N 1]
19	61	Steve Parrish	Yamaha	25	+5 laps [N 1]
20	22	Franz Kunz	Yamaha	24	+6 laps [N 1]
21	13	Philippe Coulon	Yamaha	23	+7 laps [N 1]
Ret		Giacomo Agostini	MV Agusta			1
Ret		Patrick Pons	Yamaha			9
Ret		Christian Huguet	Yamaha			10
36 starters in total
[1]

Footnotes

1. North, Parrish, Kunz and Coulon retired but were classified as finishers.

250 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	1	Walter Villa	Harley Davidson	30	54:41.62	1	15
2	90	Gianfranco Bonera	Harley Davidson	30	+42.14	6	12
3	19	Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha	30	+48.71	5	10
4	49	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	30	+49.92	8	8
5	18	Gérard Choukron	Yamaha	30	+1:03.05		6
6	59	Pekka Nurmi	Yamaha	30	+1:08.01		5
7	5	Patrick Pons	Yamaha	30	+1:08.18		4
8	36	Philippe Bouzanne	Yamaha	30	+1:09.42		3
9	21	Jean-Claude Hogrel	Yamaha	30	+1:09.57		2
10	46	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	30	+1:11.52	9	1
11	65	John Dodds	Yamaha	30	+1:24.28
12	6	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	30	+1:29.55
13	32	Denis Boulom	Yamaha	30	+1:29.80
14	74	Paolo Tordi	Yamaha	30	+1:35.87
15	63	Jaime Samaranch	Yamaha	30	+1:36.17
16	34	Gilbert Lavelle	Yamaha	30	+1:36.84
17	53	Christian Huguet	Yamaha	30	+1:45.48
18	48	Christian Sarron	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	10
19	54	Thiérry Noblesse	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
20	8	Leif Gustafsson	Yamaha	28	+2 laps [N 1]
21	13	Tom Herron	Yamaha	25	+5 laps [N 1]
22	23	Hervé Moineau	Yamaha	23	+7 laps [N 1]
Ret		Pat Evans	Yamaha			2
Ret		Raymond Roche	Yamaha			3
Ret		Tapio Virtanen	MZ			4
Ret		Franz Kunz	Yamaha			7
36 starters in total
[1]

Footnotes

1. Gustafsson, Herron and Moineau retired but were classified as finishers.

50 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	5	Herbert Rittberger	Kreidler	15	34:04.21	6	15
2	4	Rudolf Kunz	Kreidler	15	+0.19	4	12
3	6	Stefan Dörflinger	Kreidler	15	+3.57	7	10
4	25	Pierre Audry	ABF	15	+4.88	2	8
5	12	Aldo Pero	Kreidler	15	+1:07.39		6
6	11	Theo Timmer	Yamathi	15	+1:17.45		5
7	28	Yves le Tourmelin	Scrab-Ty	15	+1:21.14		4
8	2	Eugenio Lazzarini	Morbidelli	15	+1:22.42	5	3
9	23	Benjamin Laurent	Kreidler	15	+1:52.42		2
10	14	Ulrich Graf	Kreidler	15	+1:54.27		1
11	38	Jacques Hutteau	Scrab	15	+2:07.53
12	24	Raymond Duriez	Kreidler	15	+2:13.68
13	42	J. Zweisldo	Kreidler	14	+1 lap
14	33	Joaquin Gali	Derbi	14	+1 lap
15	36	Günter Schirnhöfer	Kreidler	14	+1 lap
16	44	Giuido Delys	Kreidler	13	+2 laps
17	26	Pierre Harlay	Kreidler	13	+2 laps
18	16	Cees van Dongen	Morbidelli	12	+3 laps [N 1]	8
19	29	Patrick de Wulf	Kreidler	12	+3 laps
Ret		Ángel Nieto	Bultaco			1
Ret		Jean-Paul Fargues	ABF			3
Ret		Nico Polane	Morbidelli			9
Ret		Julien van Zeebroeck	Kreidler			10
32 starters in total
[1]

Footnotes

1. van Dongen retired but was classified as a finisher.

Sidecar classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	3	Rolf Biland	Ken Williams	Yamaha	25	47:53.53	4	15
2	32	Alain Michel	Bernard Garcia	Yamaha	25	+4.13	2	12
3	11	Helmut Schilling	Rainer Gundel	Aro	24	+1 lap	5	10
4	21	Bruno Holzer	Charly Meierhans	LCR-Yamaha	24	+1 lap	6	8
5	9	Amedeo Zini	Andrea Fornaro	König	24	+1 lap		6
6	34	Hanspeter Hubacher	Kurt Huber	Yamaha	24	+1 lap		5
7	27	Ted Janssen	Eric Schmitz	Yamaha	24	+1 lap		4
8	22	Siegfried Schauzu	A. Lorentz	Aro	23	+2 laps		3
9	15	Dick Greasley	Cliff Holland	Chell Yamaha	23	+2 laps		2
10	14	Heinz Luthringhauser	Lorenzo Puzo	BMW	23	+2 laps		1
11	2	Werner Schwärzel	Andreas Huber	König	22	+3 laps [N 1]	1
12	25	Yves Trolliet	P. Muller	König	22	+3 laps
Ret		Klaus Enders	Wolfgang Kalauch	Heukerot			3
Ret		Hans Prugl	Horst Kussberger	König			7
Ret		Hermann Schmid	Jean Petit	Yamaha			7
24 starters in total
[1]

Footnotes

1. Schwärzel and Huber retired but were classified as finishers.

References

1. Carter, Chris (ed.). Motocourse 1976-1977. Hazleton Securities Ltd. p. 53. ISBN 0-905138-02-3.