MotoGP: Marc Marquéz dominates at Le Mans

Marc Márquez repeated his dominant performance from the morning free practice session and once again led the second MotoGP session this Friday (09), at the French Grand Prix, in Le Mans. The Spanish rider also made history by setting a new track record, with an impressive time of 1min29s855. Fabio Quartararo finished in second place, followed by Francesco Bagnaia in third. The practice session defined the ten riders who will advance directly to Q2 of the classification.

Quartararo shows strength and leads in the initial phase

Frenchman Fabio Quartararo started the session at a strong pace, clocking a time of 1min30s997 and taking the provisional lead. Behind him, Jack Miller, Pedro Acosta, Fermín Aldeguer and Marco Bezzecchi also stood out in the first fast laps. Meanwhile, names like Marc Márquez, Álex Márquez and Bagnaia were yet to show their full potential.

Bagnaia and Marc Márquez heat up the fight at the front

Shortly after, Bagnaia reacted and momentarily moved up to third place, but was soon overtaken by his teammate Marc Márquez, who clocked 1min31s250, a time that would later be disallowed for exceeding track limits. Álex Márquez also performed well and reached second place with 1min31s109, while Maverick Viñales entered the dispute with the fourth best time.

With around 36 minutes to go, Marc Márquez brought order to the French track by posting a time of 1:30.886, moving to the top of the standings. Shortly after, he raised the bar even higher by posting a time of 1:30.530, opening up a 0.4s lead over Quartararo. Bagnaia also improved, but still far from his Ducati teammate.

Intermediate phase with few changes and some drops

During the middle of the session, most drivers struggled to improve their times. One of the exceptions was Luca Marini, who clocked 1min31s058 and took fourth place. Joan Mir, on the other hand, had a slight crash at turn 7 and returned to the pits on his own.

In the final straight, the times began to drop. Viñales set a time of 1min30s571, and then dropped even further, finishing just 0s005 behind Márquez. Pedro Acosta also shone, moving up to third place. Viñales, however, suffered a crash after losing control at the end of the main straight, ending his session early.

Top-10 defined: spot guaranteed in Q2

Times continued to drop in the final minutes. Bagnaia managed to retake second place with a time of 1:30.039, before being overtaken by Quartararo. Fermín Aldeguer and Álex Márquez rounded out the top five. Jack Miller was sixth fastest, followed by Pedro Acosta, Viñales, Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi - the latter securing his place in Q2 in the closing stages of the session.

Marc Marquez – 1min29s855

Fabio Quartararo – 1min30s032

Francesco Bagnaia – 1min30s039

Fermín Aldeguer – 1min30s114

Alex Marquez – 1min30s129

Jack Miller – 1min30s147

Pedro Acosta – 1min30s234

Maverick Viñales – 1min30s571

Franco Morbidelli – 1min30s574

Marco Bezzecchi – 1min30s714

MotoGP returns this Saturday (10) at 5:10 am (Brasília time), with the definition of the starting grid for the French GP, in Le Mans, for the 6th stage of the 2025 season.