Francesco Bagnaia beats Marc Marquez  by 0.058s to take MotoGP pole in French GP, as Luca Marini was third.

Q1:

It was cloudy weather to start the first part in MotoGP qualifying in French GP as Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo led the way from VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini after early running, with Gresini Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio third from Honda’s Joan Mir.

The final running saw changes in the colder conditions where Tech 3 GASGAS’ Augusto Fernandez went quickest by just. He was only bettered by Marini after his 1m31.268s lap which was 0.075s quicker than Fernandez who also made it in Q2.

Home rider Quartararo was knocked out in third where he will start the two races from 13th, missing a Q2 spot by 0.023s. LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was 14th beating di Giannantonio with Mir in 16th from Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli.

LCR’s Alex Rins slotted in 18th from returning Danilo Petrucci in 19th ahead of another returning rider Lorenzo Savadori in the RNF Aprillia while Tech3’s Jonas Folger rounded the 21 riders for the 1000th grand prix, where RNF’s Raul Fernandez skipped after FP1.

Q2:

The second part of MotoGP qualifying in French GP saw Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales (1m31.120s) led the way after the first run by just the 0.084s margin over Honda’s Marc Marquez with Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin only 0.099s behind the leading Spaniard.

The second running saw drama for Vinales as a suspected mechanical issue stopped him at the pit exit where he pushed it back in the garage. As he left the pits on the second, teammate Aleix Espargaro went down at Turn 1 in a big tumble.

In the meantime, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia started his second run early and slotted himself in second, only 0.034s behind Vinales. But the Marquez juggernaut simply continued with a top lap upon his return from yet another injury.

It seemed like he had it until Bagnaia’s 1m30.705s lap to hand him MotoGP pole in French GP on his final lap where he went quickest by 0.058s over Marquez, as Marini came through from Q1 to a front-row start by finishing third after a solid lap.

KTM’s Jack Miller tried his best but was only fourth from Martin, with Vinales unable to improve after a late bike swap. VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi was seventh from Gresini’s Alex Marquez and the other home rider Johann Zarco on the Pramac.

KTM’s Brad Binder was 10th from Espargaro, who had the FIM doctors visiting him in the garage to check on him as Fernandez ended up 12th from Q1.

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