Fabio Quartararo took second consecutive MotoGP pole in French GP to defy Marc Marquez again, as Alex Marquez was third.
Q1:
The first part in MotoGP qualifying in French GP at Le Mans saw Yamaha’s Alex Rins set the pace ahead of Tech 3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini before the red flag with about nine minutes remaining. Trackhouse Apirlia’s Ai Ogura had a crash at Turn 9, but the recovery took a long time.
With the bike seemingly still fired up, the race direction red-flagged the session to allow the marshals to bring it to safety, as Ogura rushed back to hop on his second bike. After the bike was recovered, the session re-started where many still did not have a lap time accounted against their name.
By the end of it, LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco was fastest to make it in Q2 with a 1m20.399s lap ahead of Trackhouse’s Eaul Fernandez, who was 0.032s but made it through. KTM’s Brad Binder was third to miss out and will start in 13th ahead of Yamaha’s Rins and Honda’s Joan Mir in the Top 15.
Teammate Luca Marini slotted in 16th from VR46 Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio, Bastianini, Ogura, Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira, Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori and Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami to round out the 12 runners in the session.
Q2:
The second part in MotoGP qualifying in French GP saw Honda’s Marc Marquez lead the way with a 1m29.442s ahead of Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez in the front row, with his teammate Fermin Aldeguer in fourth from Pramac’s Jack Miller.
In a susprirse, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia was only 11th after the first run. The second run of the riders was slightly hampered by yellow flags when Aldeguer crashed out. Moments later Zarco had a fall too. Things progressed at the front as Quartararo upped his pace.
He set a 1m29.324s lap to take second consecutive MotoGP pole – this time in his home event in French GP. He managed to beat M Marquez again, who had to settle for second ahead of A Marquez in the front row. Despite his fall, Aldeguer maintained fourth, as Tech 3’s Maverick Vinales was fifth.
His late improvement dropped Bagnaia to sixth as Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi was seventh from Miller and VR46’s Franco Morbidelli. The Italian had a late tumble, as Fernandez was 10th from Zarco and KTM’s Pedro Acosta to round out the Top 12 starters.
Result: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1921141311404446180
