Who stood out in first MotoGP practice at Le Mans

MotoGP 2025 championship favourite Marc Marquez was quickest by far to start the premier-class French Grand Prix weekend at Le Mans.

Key moments:

• Marquez dominates first session
• Binder among Ducatis but on fresher tyres
• Crashes for Morbidelli, Rins, Fernandez

Marquez's 1m31.263s from the early going in the 45-minute session proved out of reach for everyone but the man himself, as Marquez closed out his session with an emphatic 1m30.764s on 21-lap-old tyres.

His championship-leading brother Alex likewise set his best time on very used tyres but was six tenths back - with the Marquez brothers set for a 1-2 until Brad Binder moved up to second at the final moment.

But KTM rider Binder did use a fresh pair of tyres, as did Trackhouse Aprilia rookie Ai Ogura in fifth, 0.007s behind Marquez's team-mate Pecco Bagnaia.

Home hero Fabio Quartararo was sixth on used rubber, albeit seven tenths off the elder Marquez.

His former Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli, now at VR46, ran new tyres late on to move up to seventh - having earlied crashed on the outside kerb at Garage Vert.

Pedro Acosta, who'd had arm pump surgery after Jerez, finished the first session of the weekend a reasonable 11th. The other rider who'd had arm pump surgery coming out of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Somkiat Chantra, is absent here as the intervention on his arm was more complicated.

The under-scrutiny Raul Fernandez got off to a rough start, crashing at Chemin aux Boeufs on the outlap to start his weekend - and his Trackhouse-run Aprilia RS-GP developing a minor fire as a result.

In addition to him and Morbidelli, there was also a crash for Yamaha rider Alex Rins in the Dunlop chicane.

Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) marked his return to MotoGP after a long absence with 21st place, 3.367s off the pace - two places behind Honda wildcard Takaaki Nakagami.