# 1976 French motorcycle Grand Prix

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.

## 500cc classification

| Pos. | No. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Time/Retired | Points |
| 1 | 7 | Barry Sheene | Texaco Heron Team Suzuki | Suzuki | 51'45.330 | 15 |
| 2 | 55 | Johnny Cecotto | Team Venemotos | Yamaha | +3.840 | 12 |
| 3 | 33 | Marco Lucchinelli | Gallina Corse | Suzuki | +19.290 | 10 |
| 4 | 4 | Tepi Länsivuori | Life Racing Team | Suzuki | +49.850 | 8 |
| 5 | 1 | Giacomo Agostini | Team API Marlboro | MV Agusta | +55.650 | 6 |
| 6 | 43 | Victor Palomo | Swaep Motor Racing | Yamaha | +1'27.660 | 5 |
| 7 | 56 | Stuart Avant | Colemans | Suzuki | +1'28.240 | 4 |
| 8 | 13 | Dieter Braun | | Suzuki | +1'47.880 | 3 |
| 9 | 12 | Karl Auer | Racing Team NO | Yamaha | +1 lap | 2 |
| 10 | 51 | Boet van Dulmen | Laponder Racing | Yamaha | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 19 | Olivier Chevallier | | Yamaha | +1 lap | |
| 12 | 45 | Steve Parrish | Dave More | Yamaha | +1 lap | |
| 13 | 11 | Chas Mortimer | Takazumi Katayama Sarome Team | Yamaha | +1 lap | |
| 14 | 25 | Gilles Husson | | Yamaha | +1 lap | |
| 15 | 6 | Alex George | Hermetite Racing International | Yamaha | +1 lap | |
| 16 | 44 | Edmar Ferreira | Goias Swaep Motor | Yamaha | +1 lap | |
| 17 | 48 | René Guili | | Suzuki | +2 laps | |
| 18 | 30 | Johnny Bengtsson | Stigefetts Motor | Suzuki | +2 laps | |
| 19 | 41 | Helmut Kassner | | Suzuki | +2 laps | |
| 20 | 36 | Jules Nies | | Suzuki | +3 laps | |
| Ret | ?? | Jack Findlay | Jack Findlay Racing | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Phil Read | Team Life International | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Thierry Tchernine | | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Christian Estrosi | | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Jean-Paul Boinet | Ecurie Jean Murit | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Marcel Ankoné | Nimag Suzuki | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Pentti Korhonen | | Yamaha | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Risto Makinen | | Yamaha | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Roberto Gallina | Gallina Corse | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Adu Celso-Santos | | Yamaha | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Philippe Coulon | | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Nico Cereghini | Life Racing Team | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | John Williams | Texaco Heron Team Suzuki | Suzuki | Accident | |
| Ret | ?? | Eddie Roberts | | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Pat Hennen | Colemans | Suzuki | Retired | |
| Ret | ?? | Max Wiener | Racing Team NO | Yamaha | Retired | |
| DNS | | Michel Rougerie | | Suzuki | Did not start | |
| Sources: |||||||

## 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 | | |
| 19 | 61 | Steve Parrish | Yamaha | 25 | +5 laps | | |
| 20 | 22 | Franz Kunz | Yamaha | 24 | +6 laps | | |
| 21 | 13 | Philippe Coulon | Yamaha | 23 | +7 laps | | |
| Ret | | Giacomo Agostini | MV Agusta | | | 1 | |
| Ret | | Patrick Pons | Yamaha | | | 9 | |
| Ret | | Christian Huguet | Yamaha | | | 10 | |
| 36 starters in total ||||||||

### Footnotes

* 1 2 3 4 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 | | |
| 21 | 13 | Tom Herron | Yamaha | 25 | +5 laps | | |
| 22 | 23 | Hervé Moineau | Yamaha | 23 | +7 laps | | |
| Ret | | Pat Evans | Yamaha | | | 2 | |
| Ret | | Raymond Roche | Yamaha | | | 3 | |
| Ret | | Tapio Virtanen | MZ | | | 4 | |
| Ret | | Franz Kunz | Yamaha | | | 7 | |
| 36 starters in total ||||||||

### Footnotes

* 1 2 3 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 | 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 ||||||||

### Footnotes

* ↑ 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-Fath | 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 | Clifton Lorentz | Aro-Fath | 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 | 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 |||||||||

### Footnotes

* ↑ Schwärzel and Huber retired but were classified as finishers.