The French Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha YZR M 1) managed to be a prophet in his land by getting the third pole position consecutive in the official classification for the French Grand Prix from MotoGP in the circuit of Le mans, the thirteenth in the premier category and the sixteenth of his sports career.
In a tight ending that started with the Spanish Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda RC 213 V) at the forefront of the times table, the changes followed one another uninterruptedly by assuming the lead first Maverick Viñales and then Fabio Quartararo, recently operated on for compartment syndrome in the right arm, although they also surpassed the Spaniard Jack miller Y Franco Morbidelli.
Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda RC 213 V), who came to lead the second official classification, was overtaken in the final minutes by up to five riders, to be relegated to sixth place.
The Spanish Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda RC 213 V) was giving a very good display during the fourth session of free practice, in the leading positions until just over three minutes to go he was on the ground at turn three, as well as a minute later his teammate, Marc Márquez, in his case at turn nine.
In the end, Pol Espargaró had to settle for fourth place, just ahead of his teammate in the Repsol Honda team, but as a lesser evil both were directly classified for second classification and therefore with the possibility that the mechanics would repair the damage caused, at least on Marc Márquez’s motorcycle, who managed to reach his workshop on the motorcycle.
In those free quarters the Frenchman Fabio Quartararo was the fastest, ahead of Alex Rins (Suzuki GSX RR) and Italian Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha YZR M 1).
The Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP) took the lead with the checkered flag already waving at the finish line, but with many riders with the option of doing a fast lap and, in fact, in the end it was the other Aprilia rider, the Italian Lorenzo Savadori was the one who took the lead by making perfect use of the slipstream of his compatriot Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia’s Ducati Desmosedici, and that after hitting a race after crashing with the first bike at turn fourteen and running back to his workshop.
Along with Lorenzo Savadori, the also debutant of the category, passed to the second classification, Luca marini (Ducati Desmosedici GP20), while Alex Marquez (Honda RC 213 V), which came in fourth, very close to qualifying, crashed at turn six and was desperately unable to finish qualifying.
They finished that classification but did not achieve the objective of passing pilots of the stature of the world champion, the Spanish Joan Mir (Suzuki GSX RR), as well as his teammate Alex Rins or “Pecco” Bagnaia himself.
The uncertainty of the rain gave way to a “dry window” that led to almost everyone opting for dry tires and those who had not quickly entered to make the change.
The first serious reference of the second classification was carried out by the Australian Jack Miller (Ducati Desmosedici GP21), who rolled in 1: 35.472, to unseat the French Fabio Quartararo, then leader, who was also surpassed by the Spanish Pol Espargaró, second 1.2 seconds behind the pilot of our Antipodes, and even closer, less than three tenths of a second a turn later.
In the final minutes a beautiful contest for the leadership of the category was established between the French Fabio Quartararo, the Australian Jack Miller and the Spanish Pol Espargaró, with a Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda RC 213 V) that grew little by little until it reached to the fourth position, and from there, a lap later, to the leadership of the category, although this did not last long.
Behind he was already in the fast lap partials of the session Pol Espargaró, the first discarded of the contenders for the “pole”, after suffering a fall in his attempt, and then Maverick Viñales, who was also defeated by local idol Fabio Quartararo, with Miller third, ahead of Morbidelli, Zarco and Márquez.
Takaaki Nakagami (Honda RC 213 V) finished in the third row, with Pol Espargaró eighth, in the same line as Italian Valentino Rossi (Yamaha YZR M 1).
The Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (KTM RC 16), and the Italians Lorenzo Savadori and Luca Marini closed the last line of the second direct classification.
Moto3: Migno dominates over the rain and Masià will start third
The Italian pilot Andrea Migno (Honda) signed pole position for the race this Saturday Moto3 of the French Grand Prix, fifth round of the Motorcycle World Championship, after dominating the Q2 of the small category ahead of the also transalpine Riccardo rossi (KTM) and Spanish Jaume Masià (KTM).
In this way, Migno signs the third pole of his career, second of the season after the one achieved in Portimao, after beating his compatriot and the Algemesí rider by two seconds, both separated by two tenths.
Meanwhile, Masià’s teammate and the general leader of Moto3, the Murcian Pedro Acosta (KTM), will have to start from the twenty-first position on the grid, failing to pass Q1. From there, he will look for a new feat to try to seal his fourth victory of the season and confirm his leadership.