Randy de Puniet's home French MotoGP got off to a dramatic start when the Frenchman instantly highsided from 𓃲his A☂spar ART at Le Mans on Sunday.

de Puniet then r✃eturned 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; that has never happened to ♔me before," said de Puniet, who was left lying on the racetrack after the accident🍰.

"To be hones💜t, I was lucky, because it could have been much worse with the riders 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 crashed again."

de Puniet had been the leading CRT rider throughout the dry track sessions at Le Mans🧜ꦗ.

"It is a shame, because up until yest🌌erday I was riding well in the dry, but in the 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 s🌺ideways at the start of Sunday's race, including Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies. Spies believes his moment was caused ♔by running over the finish line paint, while Hayden felt there 'must have something on the inside of the track'.