The weather is always observed very closely at the French GP, after all, eleven of the 21 MotoGP races at Le Mans so far have taken place at least partially in the rain. On Friday morning, at the start of the 1000th Grand Prix in World Championship history, the sun was shining over the 4.185 km Circuit Bugatti.
At 10.45 a.m. the first training session of the premier class began, for the first time since the season opener in Portimão and after surviving a thumb injury Marc Márquez went out on the track again. In the Repsol Honda garage, a new Kalex chassis was available for Márquez and his teammate Joan Mir, which Stefan Bradl had used for the first time during Monday’s test in Jerez.
After just twelve minutes, returnee Márquez crashed at turn 11 (still on the previous TSR chassis). The 30-year-old Spaniard checked his right thumb while he was still in the gravel bed, so he took off his glove for a moment, but fortunately everything seemed to be fine.
This left only the RC213V with the Kalex chassis in the Márquez pits, while Mir switched to the chassis from Bobingen after 20 minutes. After grabbing a fresh Alpinestars leather, Marc Márquez also continues the session on his second bike.
The start of the French GP did not go smoothly at LCR either: Takaaki Nakagami’s Honda began to smoke halfway through the session. The Japanese was informed at start-finish that he had to park his bike. The marshals also had to extinguish briefly flaring flames.
A little later, Gresini Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio fell in turn 3.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, Pecco Bagnaia topped the timesheets with a 1:32.332 ahead of fellow Ducati brand Jorge Martin. Behind Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and Jack Miller (KTM), Tech3 GASGAS rookie Augusto Fernández stayed in the top 5, Marc Márquez was in 6th place – before the hunt for times on fresh soft rear tires began.
At the end of the day, Red Bull-KTM newcomer Jack Miller set the best time in the morning with a 1:31.449 min. Behind VR46 Ducati pilot Luca Marini (+ 0.095 sec), Brad Binder (+ 0.218) was another KTM in the top ranks -3.
For comparison: The pole time (also the all-time lap record) of Ducati factory rider Pecco Bagnaia from the previous year was 1:30.450 min.
Honda newcomer Joan Mir managed 6th place on the Kalex chassis (+ 0.351 sec). World Championship leader Bagnaia moved up to 10th place in the last attempt. His teammate for this weekend, Bastianini replacement Danilo Petrucci, finished 19th, 1.719 seconds behind.
Local hero Fabio Quartararo, who had started the session on the new chassis from the Jerez test but ended up using his old Yamaha chassis again, missed the provisional top 10 places in eleventh, as did Marc Márquez in 12th place (+ 0.524 seconds).
RNF Aprilia pilot Rául Fernández only completed three laps a week after the arm pump surgery and had to abandon the comeback attempt.
MotoGP result FP1, Le Mans (12.05):
1. Miller, KTM, 1:31.449 mins
2. Marini, Ducati, + 0.095 sec
3. Brad Binder, KTM, +0.218
4. Zarco, Ducati, +0.315
5. Alex Marquez, Ducati, +0.338
6. Mir, Honda, +0.351
7. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, +0.353
8. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.423
9. Vinales, Aprilia, +0.441
10. Bagnaia, Ducati, +0.466
11. Quartararo, Yamaha, +0.497
12. Marc Marquez, Honda, +0.524
13. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.704
14. Augusto Fernández, KTM, +0.725
15. Nakagami, Honda, +0.816
16. Martin, Ducati, +0.847
17. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, +1,261
18. Rins, Honda, +1,460
19.Petrucci, Ducati, +1,719
20. Savadori, Aprilia, +2,524
21. Follower, KTM, +3.317
22. Raul Fernandez, Aprilia, +11,623
Moto2 result FP1, Le Mans (12.05):
1. Salac, Kalex, 1:36.658 mins
2. Lopez, Boscoscuro, + 0.049 sec
3. Acosta, Kalex, +0.099
4. Vietti, Kalex, +0.256
5. Canet, Kalex, +0.317
6. Gonzalez, Kalex, +0.331
7. Arbolino, Kalex, +0.362
8. Aldeguer, Boscoscuro, +0.439
9. Dixon, Kalex, +0.470
10. Garcia, Kalex, +0.480
Further:
17. Tulovic, Kalex, +1.031