# 1998 French motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1998 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the fifth round of the 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 31 May 1998 at Le Castellet.

## 500 cc classification

| Pos. | No. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Àlex Crivillé | Repsol Honda | Honda | 31 | 42:41.128 | 3 | 25 |
| 2 | 1 | Mick Doohan | Repsol Honda | Honda | 31 | +0.283 | 1 | 20 |
| 3 | 8 | Carlos Checa | Movistar Honda Pons | Honda | 31 | +0.498 | 2 | 16 |
| 4 | 19 | John Kocinski | Movistar Honda Pons | Honda | 31 | +6.888 | 7 | 13 |
| 5 | 6 | Max Biaggi | Marlboro Team Kanemoto | Honda | 31 | +10.447 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | 20 | Luca Cadalora | Yamaha Team Rainey | Yamaha | 31 | +16.305 | 6 | 10 |
| 7 | 5 | Norick Abe | Yamaha Team Rainey | Yamaha | 31 | +16.791 | 9 | 9 |
| 8 | 3 | Nobuatsu Aoki | Suzuki Grand Prix Team | Suzuki | 31 | +17.041 | 8 | 8 |
| 9 | 11 | Simon Crafar | Red Bull Yamaha WCM | Yamaha | 31 | +20.553 | 12 | 7 |
| 10 | 15 | Sete Gibernau | Repsol Honda | Honda | 31 | +23.754 | 11 | 6 |
| 11 | 55 | Régis Laconi | Red Bull Yamaha WCM | Yamaha | 31 | +37.553 | 15 | 5 |
| 12 | 28 | Ralf Waldmann | Marlboro Team Roberts | Modenas KR3 | 31 | +43.819 | 13 | 4 |
| 13 | 10 | Kenny Roberts, Jr. | Team Roberts | Modenas KR3 | 31 | +48.079 | 10 | 3 |
| 14 | 14 | Juan Borja | Shell Advance Racing | Honda | 31 | +51.451 | 17 | 2 |
| 15 | 17 | Jurgen van den Goorbergh | Dee Cee Jeans Racing Team | Honda | 31 | +1:03.343 | 16 | 1 |
| 16 | 22 | Sébastien Gimbert | Tecmas Honda Elf | Honda | 31 | +1:14.072 | 18 | |
| 17 | 18 | Garry McCoy | Shell Advance Racing | Honda | 31 | +1:23.072 | 19 | |
| 18 | 23 | Matt Wait | FCC TSR | Honda | 30 | +1 lap | 20 | |
| 19 | 57 | Fabio Carpani | Team Polini Inoxmacel | Honda | 30 | +1 lap | 22 | |
| Ret | 9 | Alex Barros | Honda Gresini | Honda | 22 | Retirement | 5 | |
| Ret | 88 | Scott Smart | Team Millar Honda Britain | Honda | 12 | Retirement | 21 | |
| Ret | 77 | Eskil Suter | MuZ Roc RennSport | MuZ | 1 | Accident | 14 | |
| DNS | 25 | Yukio Kagayama | Suzuki Grand Prix Team | Suzuki | | Did not start | | |
| Sources: |||||||||

## 250 cc classification

| Pos. | No. | Rider | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 31 | Tetsuya Harada | Aprilia | 29 | 40:59.018 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Aprilia | 29 | +0.631 | 3 | 20 |
| 3 | 65 | Loris Capirossi | Aprilia | 29 | +14.406 | 2 | 16 |
| 4 | 19 | Olivier Jacque | Honda | 29 | +27.017 | 5 | 13 |
| 5 | 4 | Stefano Perugini | Honda | 29 | +28.024 | 11 | 11 |
| 6 | 6 | Haruchika Aoki | Honda | 29 | +28.045 | 4 | 10 |
| 7 | 9 | Jeremy McWilliams | TSR-Honda | 29 | +36.228 | 9 | 9 |
| 8 | 8 | Luis d'Antin | Yamaha | 29 | +49.849 | 12 | 8 |
| 9 | 7 | Takeshi Tsujimura | Yamaha | 29 | +50.216 | 14 | 7 |
| 10 | 24 | Jason Vincent | TSR-Honda | 29 | +51.672 | 13 | 6 |
| 11 | 21 | Franco Battaini | Yamaha | 29 | +53.376 | 19 | 5 |
| 12 | 11 | Jürgen Fuchs | Aprilia | 29 | +1:01.689 | 7 | 4 |
| 13 | 17 | José Luis Cardoso | Yamaha | 29 | +1:14.169 | 10 | 3 |
| 14 | 44 | Roberto Rolfo | TSR-Honda | 29 | +1:18.169 | 17 | 2 |
| 15 | 68 | Julien Allemand | Honda | 28 | +1 lap | 24 | 1 |
| 16 | 14 | Davide Bulega | ERP Honda | 28 | +1 lap | 23 | |
| 17 | 69 | Vincent Philippe | Honda | 28 | +1 lap | 26 | |
| 18 | 70 | Franck Poulle | Honda | 28 | +1 lap | 28 | |
| Ret | 71 | Hervé Mora | Aprilia | 24 | Retirement | 27 | |
| Ret | 41 | Federico Gartner | Aprilia | 21 | Retirement | 25 | |
| Ret | 12 | Noriyasu Numata | Suzuki | 17 | Accident | 18 | |
| Ret | 20 | William Costes | Honda | 13 | Accident | 16 | |
| Ret | 37 | Luca Boscoscuro | TSR-Honda | 11 | Retirement | 15 | |
| Ret | 5 | Tohru Ukawa | Honda | 8 | Retirement | 6 | |
| Ret | 27 | Sebastián Porto | Aprilia | 5 | Retirement | 8 | |
| Ret | 18 | Osamu Miyazaki | Yamaha | 4 | Accident | 21 | |
| Ret | 25 | Yasumasa Hatakeyama | ERP Honda | 4 | Accident | 20 | |
| Ret | 16 | Johan Stigefelt | Suzuki | 1 | Retirement | 22 | |
| DNS | 67 | Matthieu Lagrive | Honda | | Did not start | | |
| Source: ||||||||

## 125 cc classification

| Pos. | No. | Rider | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Kazuto Sakata | Aprilia | 27 | 40:57.583 | 2 | 25 |
| 2 | 13 | Marco Melandri | Honda | 27 | +0.292 | 12 | 20 |
| 3 | 20 | Masao Azuma | Honda | 27 | +0.393 | 9 | 16 |
| 4 | 15 | Roberto Locatelli | Honda | 27 | +3.314 | 11 | 13 |
| 5 | 10 | Lucio Cecchinello | Honda | 27 | +4.057 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | 9 | Frédéric Petit | Honda | 27 | +4.824 | 5 | 10 |
| 7 | 22 | Steve Jenkner | Aprilia | 27 | +10.041 | 8 | 9 |
| 8 | 5 | Masaki Tokudome | Aprilia | 27 | +14.660 | 18 | 8 |
| 9 | 26 | Ivan Goi | Aprilia | 27 | +28.373 | 13 | 7 |
| 10 | 62 | Yoshiaki Katoh | Yamaha | 27 | +32.660 | 23 | 6 |
| 11 | 41 | Youichi Ui | Yamaha | 27 | +35.533 | 7 | 5 |
| 12 | 21 | Arnaud Vincent | Aprilia | 27 | +35.617 | 10 | 4 |
| 13 | 59 | Jerónimo Vidal | Aprilia | 27 | +48.609 | 21 | 3 |
| 14 | 17 | Enrique Maturana | Yamaha | 27 | +51.162 | 20 | 2 |
| 15 | 18 | Paolo Tessari | Aprilia | 27 | +57.049 | 14 | 1 |
| 16 | 65 | Andrea Iommi | Honda | 27 | +1:24.700 | 24 | |
| 17 | 67 | Randy de Puniet | Honda | 27 | +1:29.236 | 27 | |
| 18 | 69 | Jimmy Petit | Honda | 26 | +1 lap | 28 | |
| Ret | 7 | Emilio Alzamora | Aprilia | 18 | Retirement | 17 | |
| Ret | 3 | Tomomi Manako | Honda | 17 | Retirement | 3 | |
| Ret | 29 | Ángel Nieto, Jr. | Aprilia | 17 | Retirement | 19 | |
| Ret | 32 | Mirko Giansanti | Honda | 13 | Accident | 6 | |
| Ret | 68 | Nicolas Dussauge | Honda | 13 | Retirement | 22 | |
| Ret | 16 | Christian Manna | Yamaha | 11 | Retirement | 25 | |
| Ret | 2 | Noboru Ueda | Honda | 6 | Accident | 1 | |
| Ret | 8 | Gianluigi Scalvini | Honda | 6 | Accident | 16 | |
| Ret | 39 | Jaroslav Huleš | Honda | 5 | Retirement | 26 | |
| Ret | 25 | Gino Borsoi | Aprilia | 2 | Accident | 15 | |
| Source: ||||||||

## Championship standings after the race (500cc)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round five has concluded.
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Àlex Crivillé | 92 |
| 2 | Mick Doohan | 90 |
| 3 | Max Biaggi | 88 |
| 4 | Carlos Checa | 70 |
| 5 | John Kocinski | 43 |
| Pos. | Constructor | Points |
| 1 | Honda | 125 |
| 2 | Yamaha | 55 |
| 3 | Suzuki | 44 |
| 4 | Modenas KR3 | 28 |
| 5 | MuZ | 4 |
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.