MotoGP French GP: Martin ends Friday practice on top, Marquez misses Q2 cut

Setting the pace in FP1, Martin continued that form in the hour-long second session at Le Mans with a new lap record of 1m30.388s.

The championship leader headed Francesco Bagnaia on the factory team Ducati from Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta, while Fabio Quartararo made it through to Q2 in front of his home fans.

Saturday morning’s Q1 qualifying session will see several big names taking part, that list headlined by eight-time world champion Marc Marquez.

After suffering an early crash, Marquez struggled for pace through the rest of the session and ended up 13th and in Q1 for the first time since joining the Gresini Ducati squad.

Enea Bastianini, who is fighting with Marquez to secure the second factory Ducati seat for 2025, also failed to get into Q2 while Brad Binder on the factory KTM will also go through Q1 after two crashes in second practice.

A flurry of session-topping times punctuated the first 10 minutes of this afternoon’s running at a packed Le Mans.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales emerged as the best of that bunch, leading the way with a 1m31.359s.

He set this time just moments after Marquez crashed at Turn 12.

Vinales’ lap stood as the benchmark until Martin popped in a 1m31.305s on his Pramac Ducati with 25 minutes remaining.

Bagnaia would depose him 10 minutes later with a 1m31.235s, before Aleix Espargaro on the sister factory Aprilia edged ahead with a 1m31.113s.

VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio proceeded to blow the field wide open with just under 14 minutes to go with a 1m30.531s that put him over half a second clear.

Martin was the first to challenge this, beating it with a 1m30.531s with just under 10 minutes to go before a final lap of 1m30.388s cemented top spot for the Spaniard.

Bagnaia shadowed him, 0.145s adrift, while Acosta was a further 0.042s behind in third ahead of Vinales and Di Giannantonio.

KTM’s Jack Miller, then 2021 French GP winner, completed the top six from Espargaro, Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli, VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi and Yamaha’s Quartararo.

Bastianini was denied a place in Q2 by 0.010s, while Marc Marquez’s hopes were dashed at Turn 6 on his final flying lap.

A crash for Bastianini with a minute remaining ended the Ducati rider’s chances of getting through to Q2, but also forced Marquez’s current lap to be cancelled.

Getting over the line with a second to spare before the chequered flag, Marquez set the fastest first sector of anyone.

But he ran wide at Turn 6 and had to abort the lap, leaving down in 13th.

Binder’s third crash of the day left him in 17th ahead of Honda’s leading runner Joan Mir.

MotoGP French GP - FP2 results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89		Ducati	24	1'30.388		176.917
2	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1		Ducati	27	+0.145 1'30.533	0.145	176.633
3	P. Acosta Tech 3	31		KTM	26	+0.187 1'30.575	0.042	176.552
4	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12		Aprilia	25	+0.269 1'30.657	0.082	176.392
5	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	23	+0.295 1'30.683	0.026	176.341
6	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43		KTM	24	+0.311 1'30.699	0.016	176.310
7	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41		Aprilia	22	+0.326 1'30.714	0.015	176.281
8	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21		Ducati	26	+0.375 1'30.763	0.049	176.186
9	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72		Ducati	24	+0.397 1'30.785	0.022	176.143
10	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	26	+0.400 1'30.788	0.003	176.137
11	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23		Ducati	24	+0.410 1'30.798	0.010	176.118
12	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	26	+0.451 1'30.839	0.041	176.038
13	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93		Ducati	21	+0.679 1'31.067	0.228	175.598
14	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	28	+0.818 1'31.206	0.139	175.330
15	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88		Aprilia	25	+0.831 1'31.219	0.013	175.305
16	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37		KTM	23	+0.855 1'31.243	0.024	175.259
17	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	19	+0.976 1'31.364	0.121	175.027
18	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36		Honda	26	+1.133 1'31.521	0.157	174.727
19	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	28	+1.142 1'31.530	0.009	174.709
20	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	25	+1.186 1'31.574	0.044	174.625
21	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10		Honda	23	+1.472 1'31.860	0.286	174.082
22	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30		Honda	27	+1.743 1'32.131	0.271	173.570
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