Kato's #74 on the bike alongside his traditional #15, Gibernau took his first-ever MotoGP pole position on Saturday and won at only his second race of the season on Sunday in South Africa, holding off the late-charging Factory Honda of Valentino Rossi on the last five laps to claim an emotional win in dedication of Kato. After his win at Welkom, Gibernau's first retirement arrived at the Spanish round. Comfortable in second position, he lost the rear of his bike at turn two on lap eight and slid into the gravel trap. He was so upset that he almost had to be carried from the gravel trap in the process. After the disappointment in Jerez, Gibernau won his second race of the season in France. The race started off dry initially but was stopped due to sudden heavy which had started to fall on the start/finish straight on lap fifteen, with Valentino Rossi holding a three second lead over Alex Barros, Tohru Ukawa, Max Biaggi and Gibernau. The race was restarted twenty minutes later for 13 laps with the grid order determined by the running order after the suspension (Rossi, Barros, Ukawa, Biaggi, Gibernau, Haga and Melandri). With the rain stopping short after and confusion reigning supreme, all the frontrunners bar Biaggi chose a full-wet setup for this period of the race. With Biaggi and Ukawa going into the pits before the race restarted due to a bad tyre choice and suspension problems, Gibernau moved up from fifth to third before the restart even took place. As the lights went out, Barros overtook Rossi on the first lap of the restarted race, with Gibernau doing likewise on lap two, demoting Rossi to third whilst the trio pulled away from fourth place Noriyuki Haga at around four seconds per lap. Rossi and Gibernau traded second place on a few occasions with five laps to go, with Gibernau surprising leader Barros on lap nine by overtaking him before the braking area to move up into the lead, with Rossi doing likewise on the final turn to move up into second place. On the penultimate lap, Rossi then overtook Gibernau on the same section - the final two corners of the circuit - where he overtook Barros a lap earlier, but Gibernau replied by tucking in right behind Rossi and overtaking him midway on the final lap. Rossi immediately responded with an outbraking