MotoGP - Six red flags and 31 crashes! The MotoGP crash festival in Le Mans explained

Marc Marquez's fastest practice time, including a new lap record in MotoGP , and Intact rider Manuel Gonzalez's fastest practice time in Moto2 – what initially reads like a perfectly normal day of practice in the calendar year 2025 was only at first glance the case at Le Mans. Anyone who watched the French GP on TV or via live stream on Friday saw a number of crashes and interruptions – and at a frequency that was out of the ordinary for 2025.

The riders from MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 landed on their backsides a total of 31 times on Friday. The smallest world championship class recorded twelve crashes, the middle class eleven and the premier class eight. These are clear negative records of the current season: in Buriram on Friday there were only 14 crashes across all three classes, ten in Argentina, 20 in rainy Austin, eleven in Qatar and most recently in Jerez another 18, albeit under special conditions . Now there are almost twice as many, an average of five per session. And if you also include MotoE, which celebrates its season opener this weekend, there were as many as six red flags during practice in Le Mans on Friday, for example because gravel that had been washed onto the track had to be removed.

How could this dramatically high number of crashes occur? The explanation lies in the weather. During MotoGP season in early May, it's traditionally still quite cool in northwest France, especially in the morning. Despite plenty of sunshine, the temperature for MotoGP FP1 at the start of the race at 10:45 a.m. was only 14 degrees Celsius in the air and 18 degrees Celsius on the track. During the afternoon practice session, temperatures then climbed to a pleasant 20 degrees Celsius in the air and 29 degrees Celsius on the track. However, for a dry session, this still represented the lowest temperatures in a Friday afternoon practice session in 2025 – and that increases the risk of crashes.

In addition, the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans also has a stop-and-go feel. If the front tire isn't operating within the correct operating window, a driver can quickly lose control of the front end in the numerous hard braking zones. Turns three, nine, and twelve, for example, are prime targets for such front-wheel crashes, as was the case on Friday. "We're all suffering from the temperatures here; the front tire is very critical here. You have to somehow stay seated and keep going to drive a good lap," confirmed Joan Mir on Friday after such a front-wheel crash in the penultimate corner cost him a potential Q2 spot.

Since the Motorcycle World Championship has traditionally been held at Le Mans in May for decades, such crash-filled weekends are nothing unusual. While the Motorcycle World Championship recorded only six crashes across all classes on Friday practice last year, in previous years it had also recorded 36 (2023), 38 (2022), 44 (2021), and 38 (2020) – even higher figures than in 2025. This has often led to the French Grand Prix becoming the most crash-prone Grand Prix of the season in recent years, for example, three times in a row from 2019 to 2021 , and most recently in 2023. Find out where Le Mans finished last year in this article:

So, a few crashes are to be expected again on Saturday and Sunday, especially since there's still a risk of rain on Sunday. Depending on the weather forecast, the Bugatti Circuit could be hit by rain showers as early as the early afternoon or even just before the MotoGP race at 2 p.m. If that actually happens, chaos is practically guaranteed. In the last two wet races at Le Mans, MotoGP recorded six retirements each, all due to crashes.

One man who will be expected to be in action on Sunday, both in the wet and dry, is Marc Marquez. The Ducati rider tested a new chassis on Friday, which his teammate Francesco Bagnaia didn't use. Why? Here are all the answers: