France – Tests: Marc Marquez already breaks the lap record at Le Mans

• While in the morning the Marquez brothers took the lead directly, this afternoon, fabio quartararo brought a smile to the faces of French fans by setting the best provisional time in practice. The time of 1:30.993 will remain the benchmark for a long time, a good omen for the rest of the weekend.
• He was ultimately beaten by Maverick Viñales' KTM and the unstoppable Marc Marquez's Ducati, with twenty minutes left in the session. While the multiple world champion was just four tenths behind his two rivals, Viñales was running at the same time as the French rider.
• Jack Miller's Yamaha is also firmly anchored in the top 10, a positive sign for the Iwata brand, which is looking to confirm the progress made in Jerez two weeks ago during the MotGP Spanish GP.

Marquez and Quartararo fight for the best time

• Shortly before entering the final ten minutes of action, Fabio Quartararo moved back into the lead, but quickly saw his time disallowed for violation of track limits. The Frenchman returned to the fray in his next attempt, battling with Marc Marquez for the fastest time. The Spaniard emerged victorious in the first act of this duel, with a time of 1:29.855, which set the track record. The previous record was held by Jorge Martin, at 1:29.919.
• A few minutes later, Pecco Bagnaia joined the fight for the front positions and was two tenths off the lead, but took the second provisional time.
• As the checkered flag flew, Marc Marquez maintained his lead. Pecco Bagnaia, however, was ousted from second place by Fabio Quartararo, who had not yet had his last word at Le Mans. The Gresini drivers completed the top five, with Fermin Aldeguer ahead of Alex Marquez.
• Note the crashes of Ai Ogura and Joan Mir during the session. While the riders escaped without too much damage, both machines were badly damaged after each incident. Maverick Viñales also lost control of his KTM at the end of the session, but the damage was less on his RC16.
• The last crash to be deplored was that of Johan Zarco, two minutes from the end of the session, while he was in tenth place. After improvements from his rivals, the Frenchman finished in 12th place overall.
• Le MotoGP will return to the track this Saturday, for Free Practice 2 which will precede Qualifying for the French Grand Prix.

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MotoGP France – Test rankings:

Ranking : MotoTiming