The Repsol Honda rider lapped Le Mans over half a second faster than the rest of the pack to take first place on the grid.
A flying 1:32.246 lap put Spaniard Marc Marquez back on top and 0.503 sec clear of second place finisher Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team). Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) will start from third on the grid after lapping in 1:32.846 – 0.6 sec slower than Marquez.
British rider Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda) will start from fourth on the grid after putting in a 1:32.897 lap – just 0.051 sec away from stealing third from Lorenzo.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) starts the French GP in fifth position, leaving Brit Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in sixth. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) & Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) will start from 7th & 8th respectively.
Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing) & Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – who both made the jump up from Q1 – ended up in 9th & 10th place. That leaves Yonny Hernández (Pramac Racing) and Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in 11th & 12th.
The MotoGP action continues on May 17 at 09:40 local time with the warm up session. The race will commence at 14:00.
Press Release MotoGP.com