MotoGP French GP Friday Recap: Martin on Top

On the evening of May 10th, Beijing time, the MotoGP French GP successfully concluded its Friday sessions. Johann Zarco narrowly secured a direct Q2 spot with a tenth-place finish, while Jorge Martin set a new track record of 1 minute 30.388 seconds to top the practice session, followed by Francesco Bagnaia and rookie sensation Raul Fernandez in second and third positions. A surprise of the session was Yamaha’s home rider Fabio Quartararo, who made it into the top 10.

On the evening of May 10th, Beijing time, the MotoGP French GP successfully concluded its Friday sessions. Johann Zarco narrowly secured a direct Q2 spot with a tenth-place finish, while Jorge Martin set a new track record of 1 minute 30.388 seconds to top the practice session, followed by Francesco Bagnaia and rookie sensation Raul Fernandez in second and third positions. A surprise of the session was Yamaha’s home rider Fabio Quartararo, who made it into the top 10.

In the earlier first free practice session, Martin posted a time of 1 minute 31.421 seconds to take the top spot, although this was nearly a second off Bagnaia’s 2022 track record. Fernandez was 0.237 seconds behind in second place and had a remarkable save towards the end of the session. The two French riders, Zarco and Quartararo, had an underwhelming first session, finishing 16th and 20th respectively.

At 3 pm local time, the practice session that determined the ten direct Q2 entries began. Marc Marquez, as the first rider to start testing, briefly held the fastest lap before having a lowside at Turn 12 eight minutes in.Binder then had his second crash of the day at Turn 13.

After 18 minutes, most riders completed their first long-run simulations, with Maverick Vinales temporarily topping the fastest-lap list with a time of 1 minute 31.359 seconds. Notably, Quartararo also squeezed into the top 10 at this stage.

Vinales’ lead lasted about 15 minutes before Martin, using a front-hard, rear-soft tire combination, set a lap of 1 minute 31.305 seconds to take over the top spot. Based on the riders’ lap times, a pace around 1 minute 31.5 seconds would be promising for the race.

In the final 20 minutes, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro started the short sprint, momentarily topping the timesheets with a lap of 1 minute 31.113 seconds. A flurry of riders then swapped to fresh tires to battle for Q2 spots. VR46 Racing Team’s Luca Marini immediately clocked a lap of 1 minute 30.683, significantly raising the benchmark.

With eight minutes left, Martin improved his fastest lap to 1 minute 30.531. At this point, the cut-off for Q2 was initially set by Espargaro, with home favorite Quartararo remaining in the top 10, and Marquez in 12th position.

All riders had one last opportunity to improve their times in the final five minutes. Martin pushed the benchmark even further to 1 minute 30.388 and claimed the top spot in the session. Both Bastianini and Binder crashed on their final laps, missing out on a top-10 finish. Despite a last-second attempt, Marquez could only manage 13th place and missed out on Q2.

Joining Martin in securing direct Q2 entry were Bagnaia, Fernandez, Vinales, Marini, Miller, Espargaro, Morbidelli, Bezzecchi, and Quartararo. The top 10 riders were separated by a mere 0.4 seconds.

Moto2 Class

Albert Arenas and Alonso Lopez, teammates at SpeedUp Racing, finished first and second in the free practice session, while Sergio Garcia, after setting a new Moto2 group track record of 1 minute 35.473 seconds, topped the first practice session, ahead of SpeedUp’s duo.

Lopez and Arenas took second and third places. Championship leader Roberts, after setting his personal best lap, crashed and temporarily placed fifth. Gresini Racing’s Augusto Fernandez took fourth, with his teammate Jeremy Alcoba and Dino Bizzarri of CFMOTO Aspar Team needing to push harder in FP2 to secure Q2 spots.

Moto3 Class

David Alonso of CFMOTO Aspar Team continued his impressive performance from the Spanish GP, topping the first free practice session with a time of 1 minute 40.792, leading by 0.788 seconds. He then topped FP1 again with a time of 1 minute 40.470, once more breaking the Moto3 group track record he set in the free practice session. His teammate, Enea Bastianini, finished second, 0.480 seconds behind, with both riders being the only ones to dip under the 1 minute 40-second mark. The previous round’s winner, Albert Arenas, was fifth, while championship leader, Jaume Masia, took third place.

(Edited by Asan)