Jorge Martin took MotoGP pole in French GP despite his crash from Francesco Bagnaia – who also had a fall – with Maverick Vinales in third.
Q1:
The first part in MotoGP qualifying in French GP at Le Mans saw Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez on top at the halfway stage with a 1m30.586s lap ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira, with teammate Raul Fernandez just outside in third.
Ducati’s Enea Bastianini was fourth from LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, as KTM’s Brad Binder had no time set after being forced to switch to the second bike. Having had three crashes, his first bike didn’t feel too right during his first attempt.
The second run changed the course. As Bastianini was improving, M Marquez had a big moment to lose out on a good lap. There were falls for GASGAS Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez and LCR’s Zarco at separate corners to end their session.
It did catch out few riders but not Bastianini who ended up on top with a 1m30.233s lap as Oliveira popped into second to knock out M Marquez from making in Q2. The Spaniard will have to start from 13th with R Fernandez in 14th ahead of Zarco despite his fall.
Yamaha’s Alex Rins was 16th from Gresini’s Alex Marquez, Honda’s Joan Mir, LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, A Fernandez, Honda’s Luca Marini and Binder in the Top 22, with the South African hugely out of pace in last.
Q2:
The second part in MotoGP qualifying in French GP saw time dipping into 1m29s barrier with Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin setting a 1m29.919s lap to the lead the way after their first run ahead of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.
He was followed by teammate Aleix Espargaro, with Tech 3’s Pedro Acosta in the Top 5. The second run was odd from most of the riders with several crashes. The list included Martin, Bagnaia, KTM’s Jack Miller and Espargaro bringing out yellow flag.
But Martin’s initial record lap of sub 1m29s was enough to hand him MotoGP pole in French GP despite a strange crash at Turn 5. Once he was down, it gave Bagnaia a chance but he fell at Turn 9 to retain second spot on the grid.
Vinales was third as well as VR46 Ducati pair of Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi slotted in fourth and fifth. It was a late improvement from the latter post the yellow flag and chequered flag, as Espargaro was pushed down to sixth in the order.
Acosta was seventh after running into a slow moving Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, who ended up eighth ahead of Gresini’s Franco Morbidelli. It was bad timing for Bastianini in 10th with Miller and Oliveira rounding out the Top 12 runners.