The weekend’s MotoGP action from France set me thinking. About what? About a lot of things, as it turned out.

The same venue, Le Mans, hosts what must be France’s biggest motorsport event in three weeks: 24 Heures du Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Le Mans 24 Hours – whatever you want to call it.

That would probably be the biggest event on the French motorsport calendar, even if the country still held a Formula 1 race – which it hasn’t done since 2008. That means the MotoGP race is the only event we’d call the French Grand Prix.

Le Mans is ubiquitous in endurance racing, giving its name to championships (Le Mans Series, American Le Mans Series) and classes of car (Le Mans Prototype – LMP1, LMP2). So France is hardly a third world motorsport country because of a lack of Formula 1.

You do have to feel a bit sorry for France’s former Formula 1 circuit, Magny-Cours, though. Looking at the calendar, it has a round of the World Superbike Championship, and the Bol d’Or endurance event – so bikes are pretty well catered for. On four wheels, the best it can offer is Superleague Formula, and a bit of World Series by Renault.

But like Le Mans, Magny-Cours has seen its name taken on elsewhere. Curiously, in this case by an AMD processor.

Whatever you say about Magny-Cours, it’s in a better position after losing Formula 1, than Donington Park is after Formula 1 failed to arrive. It’s looking positive though: the track should be open again around August, and in the meantime the rest of the facility is open as usual. The BTCC should be visiting as planned in September. Fingers crossed.