MotoGP

What happened in first Le Mans MotoGP practice

2 min read

A trio of riders with a point to prove after Jerez started MotoGP's French Grand Prix at Le Mans on top.

Jorge Martin - still championship leader despite his crash from first place in the Spanish GP - led the way for Pramac Ducati with a 1m31.421s lap, albeit aided by being one of relatively few to run a soft tyre near the end. A potentially quicker lap was lost to a front-end slide that he successfully held.

Jerez was the most anonymous Sunday of Pedro Acosta's startling MotoGP career so far, but he was back to what is already established as his usual form on Friday morning - ending up second after a brief appearance on top spot, and escaping a big twitch into the Chapelle corner at the bottom of the hill with a trip through the gravel.

Maverick Vinales and Aprilia's winning streak abruptly halted at Jerez, but Le Mans started promisingly: he was third and team-mate Aleix Espargaro seventh behind works Ducati team-mates Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia and Gresini's Alex Marquez.

Marc Marquez was fastest for much of the session before ending up ninth.

That was a place behind the morning's only crasher: KTM rider Brad Binder, whose recent tough run continued when he lost it on the way into Garage Blue and sent his bike tumbling through the gravel by itself.

FP1 result

PosNameBikeBest TimeGap Leader
1Jorge MartinDucati1m31.421s
2Pedro AcostaKTM1m31.658s+0.237s
3Maverick ViñalesAprilia1m31.678s+0.257s
4Enea BastianiniDucati1m31.837s+0.416s
5Francesco BagnaiaDucati1m31.852s+0.431s
6Alex MarquezDucati1m31.896s+0.475s
7Aleix EspargaróAprilia1m31.911s+0.490s
8Brad BinderKTM1m31.942s+0.521s
9Marc MarquezDucati1m31.971s+0.550s
10Marco BezzecchiDucati1m31.980s+0.559s
11Jack MillerKTM1m32.035s+0.614s
12Franco MorbidelliDucati1m32.070s+0.649s
13Alex RinsYamaha1m32.112s+0.691s
14Raul FernandezAprilia1m32.221s+0.800s
15Miguel OliveiraAprilia1m32.286s+0.865s
16Johann ZarcoHonda1m32.403s+0.982s
17Augusto FernandezKTM1m32.433s+1.012s
18Fabio Di GiannantonioDucati1m32.546s+1.125s
19Takaaki NakagamiHonda1m32.585s+1.164s
20Fabio QuartararoYamaha1m32.698s+1.277s
21Joan MirHonda1m33.008s+1.587s
22Luca MariniHonda1m33.350s+1.929s
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