MOTO GP – French GP – Qualifying

The 5th race pf the calendar takes the riders to the Le Mans track for the 2021 French GP. Tricky conditions is a key factor that plays on this track, as it happened with the full wet race on last year.

First Qualy group saw the Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, both Suzukis of Mir and Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez and Brad Binder as the strong names that could take part on the next session. As the track was getting dry after a rain on FP4, riders were looking for the good racing line that could send them to Q2
Both Rins and Mir were showing good times on track, although the track was drying, more riders were pushing hard on track, like Aleix Espargaro and Lorenzo Savadori on the Aprilias, Alex Marquez and Luca Marini were also showing good pace on track. The 2 spots for next session were quite on the air, as almost everyone was getting red sectors on track, finally at the last attempt, it was Lorenzo Savadori who took 1st even after a early crash. With the rookie of the Sky Esponsorama, Luca Marini, entering to the next session. Francesco Bagnaia would have to make a comeback starting from 16th
Q1 Result:
13. Aleix Espargaro /// 14. Joan Mir /// 15. Alex Rins
16. Francesco Bagnaia /// 17. Danilo Petrucci /// 18. Iker Lecuona
19. Alex Marquez ///20. Tito Rabat ///21. Brad Binder
22. Enea Bastianini
The next Qualy session had a particular start, as riders pretry much sacrified the first 5 minutes of the session to check the track conditions, with everyone changing to Slicks at their bikes. It was a mixed group ahead, as Miller, Viñales, Morbidelli, Quartararo and Zarco were on the mix. But unexpectedly the Hondas of Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami were showing positive pace on track.
Honda was looking great after months of struggle, with their 3 riders on track were locking the front row. Last stint was ahead, with Quartararo, Viñales, Zarco and Miller pushing hard on their last flying lap. Zarco and Viñales looked stronger, but Quartararo had a massive last 2 sectors on track and clinched another Pole, Viñales closed the Yamaha 1-2, Miller locked the front row, Morbidelli finished 4th, Zarco on the top 5 and Marc Marquez closes the second row.
Q2 Results:
1. Fabio Quartararo /// 2. Maverick Viñales /// 3. Jack Miller
4. Franco Morbidelli /// 5. Johann Zarco /// 6. Marc Marquez
7. Takaaki Nakagami /// 8. Pol Espargaro /// 9. Valentino Rossi
10. Miguel Oliveira /// 11. Lorenzo Sabadori /// 12. Luca Marini
Yamaha keeps looking strong, Ducati is close on the fight, Honda finally looks a ray of hope, Aprillia could give a surprise, Suzuki sometimes good but others not much, and KTM still having issues overall. At a changing track and weather of Le Mans, an unexpected turn of events could happend on tomorrow’s race.