Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia beat his team-mate Marc Marquez by just 0.012s to take an unlikely pole position in Saturday’s French Grand Prix qualifying.
The two-time MotoGP champion set a best time of 1m29.634s with just over a minute remaining in Q2, scoring his first MotoGP pole since the Malaysian Grand Prix in October last year.
Marquez smashed the lap record in Q1 to enter the final part of qualifying but was unable to replicate that effort, ending up second on the other factory Ducati.
At the start of Q2, Fabio di Giannantonio was the first rider to go under the 90-second mark, setting a time of 1m29.876s on the VR46 Ducati.
Marco Bezzecchi then unleashed the true pace of the Aprilia after a low-key Friday, going quickest in Q2 on a 1m29.825s. Bezzecchi’s team-mate Jorge Martin slotted into third behind the top Ducati of di Giannantonio, with the top three covered by just 0.058s.
However, all three laps were still slower than the quickest efforts from Q1, suggesting a bigger step was likely to come during the second runs.
Bigger improvements indeed followed when riders put on a fresh set of tyres, with Marquez taking to the top with a 1m29.646s.
Di Giannantonio again emerged as his closest rival in second, but Bagnaia – who appeared visibly more comfortable with the Ducati on Friday – managed to eclipse him on his final effort and claim pole position.
Marquez had to settle for second position, having had a run-in with di Giannantonio on his cool-down lap and abandoned his last two laps. His Q2 time was almost four tenths down on the blistering 1m29.288s effort he produced in Q1 to set a new lap record at the Bugatti Circuit.
Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Marc Fleury
Behind, Bezzecchi secured the final spot on the front row with a late flyer, ending up just 0.023s off pole position, with di Giannantonio closely following him in fourth.
Pedro Acosta was the sole KTM rider in Q2 as he finished a solid fifth, with home hero Fabio Quartararo coming from Q1 to qualify sixth on the factory KTM.
Honda rider Joan Mir ended up just two tenths off the pace in seventh, with Martin shuffled down to eighth following a series of late improvements.
Ai Ogura was ninth for Trackhouse, while Spanish GP winner Alex Marquez could only manage 10th on the Gresini Ducati after a late crash at Turn 3. Just three tenths separated the top 10 riders in qualifying.
Reigning French GP winner Johann Zarco was a distant 11th for LCR, while Yamaha’s Alex Rins also had a low-key qualifying en route to 12th.
Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez was the first rider to miss Q2 and will line up 13th on the grid, sharing the fifth row of the grid with Enea Bastianini (Tech3) and Luca Marini (Honda).
Both Bastianini and Marini made late improvements in the final minute, demoting VR46’s Franco Morbidelli to 16th place. MotoGP rookies Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac) and Diogo Moreira (LCR) qualified 17th and 18th, beating Jack Miller (Pramac) and a struggling Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini).
Brad Binder endured a tough session on the factory KTM, ending up 21st and only ahead of Maverick Vinales’ stand-in Jonas Folger (Tech3).
Q2 results
Q1 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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