Marc Marquez was the fastest man again in the MotoGP qualifying session and will start the race in Le Mans from the first place. An impressive Pol Espargaro and Andrea Dovizioso will join him in the first row of the grid.
Once again, now in Le Mans, the MotoGP pole position has the same owner: Marc Marquez. The current World Champion set a time of 1:32.042 and was almost seven tenths ahead of his closest rival, the rookie Pol Espargaro, who got a great result in his fifth qualifying in the class.
The Q1 session started with all the riders involved on track. Aleix Espargaro and Cal Crutchlow occupied the two Q2 spots during the first part of the practice. After that, both riders were in pits until the chequered flag waved. Nicky Hayden was close to beat Crutchlow, but he finished third just in front of Yonny Hernandez.
In Q2, Jorge Lorenzo was the first to attack and was provisionally first, because Marquez beat his time right after. Andrea Iannone was third taking advantage of the softer tyre compound.
While Marquez improved his own time, Andrea Dovizioso went second, followed by Lorenzo in third place. Iannone was second, but his best time was deleted because he exceeded the track limits, so he was 11th. Pol Espargaro went second in the last minutes of the qualifying, but he couldn’t beat Marquez’s time. Dovizioso was third, followed by Stefan Bradl and Valentino Rossi. Jorge Lorenzo was sixth and Dani Pedrosa ninth.