The MotoGP’s French Grand Prix, Marc Marquez found himself among a trio of prominent riders who needed to navigate through the initial part of qualifying, while Fabio Quartararo secured a spot in Q2 with a strong performance aboard his Yamaha at his home race.
Initially, Quartararo faced challenges during Friday morning’s first practice, where he finished in 20th place, trailing by over a second. However, as the second session unfolded at the Le Mans circuit, Quartararo showcased greater potential, particularly with fresh soft rear tires. The circuit’s configuration, featuring fewer long corners that typically disadvantage Yamaha bikes during turns, played to Quartararo’s advantage.
Despite initially falling short of the cutoff in the session’s final minutes, Quartararo managed to clock a time of 1m30.788s, securing the 10th position and the final spot in Q2 by a razor-thin margin of 0.010 seconds. This effort came at the expense of Enea Bastianini, who, moments after losing his Q2 berth, suffered a crash on his factory Ducati, dashing his hopes of progressing directly to Q2.
Meanwhile, Jorge Martin, leading the championship standings and setting the pace in FP1, continued to dominate, establishing a new lap record and finishing the session with a comfortable lead of a tenth and a half over Pecco Bagnaia, a factory Ducati rider. Joining them in the top three was rookie sensation Pedro Acosta, impressively outperforming his KTM counterparts on his Gas Gas-branded bike.
Additionally, Jack Miller secured the sixth-fastest time, benefiting from a tow provided by Marquez’s Ducati. Miller’s performance, alongside Acosta’s, secured two KTM riders’ places in Q2. They were followed closely by Maverick Vinales on his Aprilia and Fabio Di Giannantonio on the VR46 Ducati.
