Second consecutive pole for Francesco Bagnaia and double for Ducati, with Jack Miller marking the second best position. Complete the front row Aleix Espargaró, who has shown that his Aprilia is competitive and chooses to do great things this season. Disappointment in the stands with fourth place for Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman was the favorite to start from the top spot but found himself outmatched and snapped his run of two pole positions in the last two years. The third line will be completely Spanish, with Mir, Rins and Jorge Martín. Disappointment at Honda, with very discreet performances by Marc Márquez (10th) and Pol Espargaró (11th). The fourth row was closed by another Honda, Takaaki Nakagami’s. Marc Márquez knew before starting that he would only have one bike at his disposal because he crashed at the end of the fourth free practice (the ninth of the year) and his mechanics didn’t even repair it.
Some problems that confirm the harsh reality revealed yesterday by the pilot from Cervera.
An eventful day for Marc Márquez, who had gotten into Q2 without problems directly after taking the wheel from Quartararo, who sportingly accepted the Catalan’s strategies. The man from Lleida crashed in the last moments of FP4, at turn 7, where Miller and Aleix Espargaró also crashed. No consequences for all of them. The times achieved in the previous sessions allowed Zarco, who set the fastest time, Bagnaia, Quartararo, Marc Márquez, Miller, Aleix Espargaró, Nakagami, Rins, Pol Espargaró and Bastianini to move on to the final phase of the classification. The rest had to fight for the two positions that gave access to Q2. Martín, Viñales, Mir, Alex Márquez, Raúl Fernández, Morbidelli, Dovizioso, Gardner, Darryn Binder, Brad Binder, Oliveira, Marini, Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio went to the playoffs.
Finally, it was Jorge Martín and Joan Mir who set the best times and were able to fight for pole position. The Pramac driver got the best time of Q1 in a magnificent last lap, which returned him to the first position. In second place finished Joan Mir, who saw his position in danger with a last lap by Bezzecchi that was about to take him out. With the two Spaniards in the final group, the final round began with the two favorites in Zarco and Quartararo, not only to get pole position but also to win the final victory tomorrow. Bagnaia set the best time but it didn’t last long because Quartararo overtook him. With 1’30.688, he was only one tenth away from breaking Zarco’s record time, that he couldn’t find the pace he had set yesterday and today. The last laps were decisive for the Ducati, who took the lead, and for Aleix Espargaró, who placed his Aprilia in the front row
«I am very happy because Le Mans is not a track of my style nor that I like but we have worked well over the weekend. It was a shame to crash with my good bike, which meant that I couldn’t make any mistakes because I no longer had a second bike”, explained Aleix Espargaró. “I am very happy about the pole but even more because we have found the solution to go faster”, explained Bagnaia, happy after achieving his first place.
Pole position in Moto3 went to Dennis Foggia, who thus consolidated the dominance shown during all free practice sessions. His teammate Suzuki and Jaume Masiá will accompany him on the front row and leader Sergio García Dols will start from the third.
2
