Randy de Puniet's home French MotoGP got off to a dramatic staღrt when the Frenchman instantly highsided from his Aspar ART at Le Mans on Sun💜day.

de Puniet then returned to the Aspar pits on foot☂ and rejoined the race on his second bike, only to crash out of 18th place in the closing stages.

"The start was really strange, as when I put the clutch in the bike highsided; tℱhat has never happened to me before," said de Puniet, who was💝 left lying on the racetrack after the accident.

"To be honest, I was lucky, because it could have been much worse with the r𓄧iders behind me coming through.

"I went back to the pits, got on the second bike and was already a lap ♏behind, plus the feeling wasn't great with that machine either. In the end, shortly before the finish, I crash🍷ed again."

de Puniet had been the leading CRT riไder throughout the dry ꩵtrack sessions at Le Mans.

"It is a shame, because up until yesterday I was riding well👍 in the dry, but in th♚e wet this weekend was a disaster. Fortunately I didn't re-injure myself, and I hope to be at 100% for Barcelona," he added.

Several other riders also got sideways at the start of Sunday's race, including Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies. Spies believes his moment was cau🦹sed by running over the finish line paint, while Hayden felt there 'must have something on the insid💦e of the track'.