It took place on the weekend of 14–16 July 1989 at the Bugatti Circuit located in Le Mans.

At the start, Wayne Rainey gets around Lawson, with Freddie Spencer in third, followed by Pierfrancesco Chili and Christian Sarron.

Soon it’s the California duo with a small gap, and Kevin Schwantz has made up for his bad start by moving into third, with Kevin Magee in fourth.

Wayne Gardner crashes out, and Schwantz joins the fight for first, with back-marker traffic making life difficult for Lawson and Rainey.

Schwantz is braking very late and making it stick, and he and Lawson start to drop Rainey.