Bagnaia snipes Le Mans MotoGP pole from comeback star Marquez

MotoGP championship leader Pecco Bagnaia denied the returning Marc Marquez French Grand Prix pole in a Le Mans qualifying thriller.

Bagnaia was 0.058s clear of Marquez, who was the sole Honda rider in Q2, making his MotoGP return after a three-round absence with a fractured hand.

Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales sat on provisional pole after the opening runs in the pole shoot-out, heading Marquez by 0.084s.

Yet when Vinales headed out of the pits for his second run, his RS-GP suddenly lost drive, Vinales desperately trying to get it working on the spot before giving up and heading back down pitlane, getting a surprise helping hand from Moto3 rider Riccardo Rossi.

What's happened here?! 😱

Provisional pole man Maverick runs into trouble at the end of pit lane! 🤯

This could cost him pole position! 🛑#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/21S0B6reMP

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 13, 2023

Whatever the issue was would not be rectified in time, Aprilia forced to swap the soft tyres to Vinales’ other bike – and though he did get out for one flying lap, he was not able string it together, with the rubber presumably lacking sufficient temperature.

A luckless end to qualifying for Maverick! 😢

There's still a smile there though, he knows he'll be fast later on! 💪#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/nHcyot3VwL

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 13, 2023

By that time, Marquez had already surpassed Vinales, with a storming lap in the tow of Jorge Martin’s Ducati. But a stunner comeback pole for the Honda man, running the Kalex-built chassis that’s making its grand prix weekend debut at Le Mans, was prevented at the last moment by Bagnaia.

The championship leader’s 1m30.705s was half a tenth better than Marquez’s effort. Fellow Valentino Rossi protege Luca Marini, who had advanced from Q1, followed Bagnaia on that lap and was himself helped to a front-row start.

Jack Miller took fourth place as the lead KTM, ahead of Martin and Vinales, followed by an all-Ducati third row of Marco Bezzecchi (VR46), Alex Marquez (Gresini) and Johann Zarco (Pramac).

Brad Binder was 10th in the other works KTM, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro consigned to 11th by a fast crash at Turn 1.

A hugely high-speed off for @AleixEspargaro! 💥

Great to see Aleix up on his feet after that! 👏#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/1QgTwcFZUw

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 13, 2023

Tech3 Gas Gas rookie Augusto Fernandez had come into the session with a previous best qualifying effort of 17th but managed to score 12th place.

He had gone through Q1 to record his Tech3 team’s first Q2 appearance since 2021, but couldn’t quite match his Q1 effort in Q2.

Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo led the proceedings in Q1 after the opening runs, enjoying a four-tenth buffer that suggested easy passage to Q2.

That, however, proved deceptive, and with Quartararo only able to match his previous time to the thousandth on his second run, he was first pushed down to second by Fernandez and then denied Q2 passage by a last-second Marini improvement.

Disbelief at Yamaha 🤯#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/eMrxu8mAlm

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 13, 2023

A big gain at the chequered flag by LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was still only good enough for 14th, with Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio joining Quartararo and Nakagami on the fifth row.

The second Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli ended up 17th, half a second down on Quartararo and in the middle of row six – between the works Honda of Joan Mir and the LCR Honda of Alex Rins.

The battle of the stand-ins was won by Ducati substitute rider Danilo Petrucci, who in 19th was three tenths quicker than Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori and 1.5s quicker than Gas Gas’s Jonas Folger.

Qualifying Results