MotoGP riders reflect on opening day of practice at Le Mans – Moto2/3/E Reports/Results

MotoGP 2025

Round Six – Le Mans – Friday

Marc Márquez – P1

“We did a good job, but it’s only Friday, and there’s still something to work on. We made a few steps forward in the afternoon – I felt more comfortable especially in the second and third runs – so let’s see how things go tomorrow. I think the lap-times will be even closer, but I’m having fun and continuing to work to improve.”

Fabio Quartararo – P2

“Today was positive. We had good one-lap performance and also good long-run pace. I think we can be pretty happy, and tomorrow we can do another step forward. Today was much better than the Friday in Jerez. That was more of a surprise, whereas here it felt like it came more naturally. I could make a great pace from the beginning, and we were also fast in the time attack. Pole is always tricky, but it’s possible. Especially here because I am able to disconnect my brain over one lap. Having that level of confidence on the bike, this is something I like. But the realistic goal is the front row for qualifying and then P4 or P5 in the Sprint.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P3

“I’m happy with today. We’re working to maximise my performance with this bike configuration and I’m satisfied, as the feeling kept improving throughout the day. I still can’t do exactly what I want with the front-end, so we need to keep focusing on that area. We did a good job, though there’s still a step to make. Right now, Marc has something extra, but we’re working to bridge the gap and fight for the top positions.”

Fermin Aldeguer – P4

“I’m very happy because Le Mans is a track where I’ve always struggled a bit, and to enjoy my so-far best MotoGP Friday here is surely a good sign. We still miss something on sectors three and four and I must admit I made some small mistakes during the time attack, as I was too eager, but we can keep working in a serene way after another Q2 direct seed.”

Alex Marquez – P5

“This is historically a challenging track for me so today I chose to focus on riding as much as possible and make experience with this bike. Two outings with many laps gave us plenty of valuable data ahead of Saturday. I’m honestly satisfied as, aside from Marc, we’re in the fast group and we can battle for a good qualifying result tomorrow.”

Jack Miller – P6

“It has been a good day, as it is always positive when you manage to pass directly to Q2. I felt good from the very early laps this morning, the test in Jerez was really what we needed to shake down the bike and try a few different things in a different layout than Malaysia and Thailand. The Jerez test could not have been coming at a better time, well couple of days before would have actually been better, but I am happy with the steps we made, I am happy with the bike, we are keeping building and get a good feeling, which here in Le Mans can be tricky sometimes. I am satisfied with my fast laps, but also the pace was not bad at all, already from the end of FP1. But I feel there are still some areas on the track that I can improve, like turns 9 and 10 where I don‘t feel amazing. And also in the last sector I know I can improve more.”

Maverick Viñales – P8

“It was a good Friday and I was happy with our rhythm straight from FP1. We still have a few things to adjust on the bike because I am a little bit too sideways in some parts of the track, which is the reason why I crashed. We are feeling confident and focused for the job to do tomorrow, our goal is to bring the bike on the first two rows on the starting grid, and then go from there!”

Franco Morbidelli – P9

“Overall, the day was positive because we are in Q2, but a lot happened. I crashed this morning, and when in the Practice I came back on track on the same bike, something didn’t work. We tried to fix the problems during the session, even though we didn’t manage many clean laps during the time attack, we still went fast. Time was limited today, but we are in Q2 and this is positive. I am happy with the job done by the team. Making many kilometers will be important tomorrow to understand what to do on the bike to improve. Physically, I’m feeling good.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P10

“I’m rather pleased I was able to go through to Q2. I had to reckon with two yellow flags as I was doing good time attacks, but I never gave up and managed to do the time on the final lap. Succeeding in going straight through to Q2 is a great confidence booster because we made some improvements in the tests and now we’re beginning to see them. Also, we’ll have more time to work on Saturday, without having to go through Q1, which is always an extremely difficult session. I’d like to thank everyone in Aprilia because, both here and in Noale, they are doing a brilliant job and they never give up, so it’s only right that I do the same.”

Luca Marini – P11

“At the end we have had a positive day, and we only missed Q2 by less than 0.1s in some ways it is harder when it’s like this! We confirmed the positive step from Jerez, and we are going in a good direction with development. Important to keep going like this, working closely with the engineers and I am really satisfied with what we have done so far from this side of things. The objective is to get to Q2 tomorrow, that’s how we will unlock a good race here.”

Johann Zarco – P12

“I’m disappointed to have missed Q2 today, but unfortunately, the feeling on the bike didn’t improve from FP1 to Practice. In Jerez, we addressed the issue, and I was expecting to feel a bit better, but we are working hard to find a solution. Tomorrow, I hope we can get back to a better feeling and keep pushing. We’re all super motivated to make it happen and I really want to do a nice job in front of my crowd”.

Enea Bastianini – P13

“Today was a positive day, during which we improved lap by lap, and I feel satisfied with our progression. The strong wind and the cold conditions were not easy to manage, and many riders are really close on this track, but we have to stay positive because we were closer to Q2 than we’ve ever been this season. We struggled in the corners’ entries, especially in T1 and T2, and we have to ride differently to last year in these. Every track this year is a reset for me because the KTM behaves differently from what I was used to in the past, but we are working on it, I am sure we will continue improving this weekend.”

Joan Mir – P14

“Honestly a difficult day. We tried something different with the setup compared to before and it didn’t really work but at least we know for the future now. But we were able to make some improvements after that. The real pain was crashing and damaging the bike in the afternoon. I ran back and got on my second bike but didn’t have the same feeling to improve my time further. The positive is that I was within two tenths of being in Q2, it was a positive surprise and shows our potential. Tomorrow, we need to put it together but there is the room to improve a lot.”

Raul Fernandez – P15

“It was a really positive day. I’m very happy. We can confirm the good feeling from the test and I enjoyed riding a lot. But the crash this morning didn’t help us to start the weekend. It was a very strange one and I crashed really without any warning. After that, I had to regain my confidence, which was the main work today. The good thing is, I enjoyed it on track and I could use my riding style very well. The only issue was that I didn’t feel the front so well. Here it was the first time I made the time attack with the soft. I did seven laps, was consistent and improving, it’s really important for me and I can see the light a little bit, so I’m very happy.”

Ai Ogura – P16

“My day wasn’t great. The session this morning was quite OK but this afternoon I didn’t really feel good with the soft rear. It seems everybody else has a bit of advantage with the soft rear, but it didn’t help me a lot, so I was struggling for the time attack. The crash this afternoon was a typical Le Mans crash, turn seven, straight braking and I lost the front – there was nothing crazy about it. After that, it was just a confidence thing, so we’ll try again tomorrow.”

Alex Rins – P17

“Today was actually a good day, in general, but with some ups and downs. I crashed in Turn 3 this morning, and this took away a bit of my confidence. So, this afternoon I was using the practice time to get used to the bike again. In FP1, I was quite fast in Sector 1: I was fourth fastest. This afternoon, I couldn’t brake as hard, so we tried something on the second run. In the end, I couldn’t complete my time attack due to a technical issue. I hope that tomorrow we can make the step we couldn’t make today.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio  – P18

“Today was a tough day, I expected to struggle less and to be a bit faster. I have no feeling at the front and I can’t push as I wish, it’s the first time it happens. But we’ll keep working and try to figure out what I need to take a step forward tomorrow. We’ll look at what the others are doing, but our focus has to be on improving our own package. We are competitive and this is our first tough weekend. We must be focused and smart in days like these.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P20

“It’s good to be back in MotoGP, our priority this weekend is working on a couple of key pieces, to confirm what Honda saw in Jerez with Aleix and during the test. Of course, you always want to be faster when you’re on track with everyone, but we are focused on our plan. Tonight I will check the data and see where we can improve to keep helping Honda as much as possible.”

Miguel Oliveira – P21

“I was relieved after my first runs, and this is just the right choice of words, because you never know how you will feel and still doubt if you will be able to ride the bike after such a long time. I missed a lot of technique and got tired super quickly, because I am making a lot of effort to try to do all I have to do. But it is what it is, this is weekend zero for me and I am just starting to get my feel back with the bike, the performance will follow. I will struggle these days, I know that, and it will all be about managing my forces in order to be able to finish the race, but it will not be easy.”

Lorenzo Savadori – P22

“We are continuing to test some upgrades which clearly need a bit of time to perform at their peak. Some aspects that need to be fine tuned have come out at the moment, but that is just part of the natural growth path of a new component, so we need to put in a few more miles to improve.”

Team Managers

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

“Overall, it’s been a mixed day. Starting with the positives: Fabio is once again competitive this weekend, which shows that the great results in Jerez were not a fluke. The crowd is definitely on Fabio’s side, and I’m sure it is helping him to dig even deeper than usual. Thanks to his great efforts today, he is in Q2, which was his goal, and he is feeling good with his bike this weekend. Álex, on the other hand, though he put in good work, was a bit unlucky. He suffered a small crash at the end of FP1 this morning. Thankfully, he was unharmed, but he needed some time to regain his confidence. But then, at the end of the Practice, he faced a technical problem. Because of that he didn’t get to complete his time attack. The team will work hard this evening to fix everything for tomorrow so he can take another shot at securing a place in Q2 during Q1.”

Gino Borsoi – Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

“It was definitely a good Friday, not just because of Jack‘s position, but also the pace he showed from the start. Of course, there‘s still a lot of work ahead, but it‘s the best way to kick off the weekend. Quartararo‘s performance also shows that Yamaha is on an upward path, and the updates we tested in Jerez, including the new engine, are starting to pay off. As for Miguel, we‘ve said before that this is really the beginning of his season. The key now is to take it step by step without rushing. I‘m glad he‘s back and riding without discomfort — when it comes to results, we‘ll give it a bit more time.”

Paolo Bonora – Aprila Racing

“We are pleased with the results. Marco has demonstrated that he never gives up and he did a truly outstanding final lap that put us in the top ten. Now we still need to keep working on the stability of the bike in view of the race. With Savadori, we are continuing with the development of solutions that we will probably see in the second part of the season.”

Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Aprilia Team Principal

“Today, we had one crash each that I think influenced all the day. This morning, Raul had a crash on the first lap and this compromised, a little bit, all the first session while Ai crashed in the afternoon and after the crash it takes some time to get back to the box. Both were OK but we lost some time, for sure, so we had to change our work plan. Anyway, overall, I think we are not bad – we can, of course, be faster than we were today and yes, we will try tomorrow in Q1 to recover what we missed today.”

MotoGP Practice Report

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) served up a 1:29.855 fastest ever motorcycle lap of Le Mans clearly established the Spaniard as the rider to beat after the opening day of running in France. Leading the chase is home hero Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), much to the delight of the packed Le Mans terraces, while Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) pocketed a P3.

Leading the way into the final 30 minutes was Marc Marquez, with Quartararo 0.4s adrift in second place and Bagnaia third. That soon changed though because Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) jumped into P2 as Top Gun flew the KTM flag highest as we crept into the final 20 minutes of Practice.

The first big mover was Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol). The Italian leapt to P4 from outside the top 10 on a soft Michelin rear tyre, but fortunes weren’t as favourable for teammate Joan Mir as the 2020 World Champion suffered a crash at Turn 13 with 17 minutes left on the clock.

On fresh rear rubber, Viñales closed the gap to Marquez to sit 0.005s off the #93 and pushing to get the better of his compatriot, Viñales crashed unhurt at Turn 9. Meanwhile, Bagnaia had improved his time to go P3 and with 10 minutes to go, the home crowd were applauding Quartararo as the he went 0.3s clear at the top. However, that was short-lived because five seconds later, Marquez slammed in a 1:29.855 – a new all-time lap record.

Could anyone get close to that was the question. Bagnaia went P2 to close the deficit to 0.184s and not long after, Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) jumped ahead of Quartararo into P3. A late crash for Johann Zarco (Honda HRC Castrol), coupled with a Marini improvement, saw the Frenchman lose out on a place in the top 10, while the other home hero landed a late lap to back to P2. That, of course, was Quartararo.

Rookie Aldeguer continues to impress as the #54 ends Day 1 in P4 ahead of teammate and World Championship leader Alex Marquez. Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) enjoyed a fruitful session, the Australian sails into Q2 in P6, as a pair of KTMs – led by Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – head into Q2, with Viñales eventually ending Practice in P8.

Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was P9 and a last-lap push from Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) ensured the Italian snatched the final automatic Q2 spot in P10 – meaning Marini narrowly missed out.

MotoGP Le Mans Practice Times

Despite a red flag towards the end of the session intensifying the need for a lap time further, nobody was able to land a blow on Manuel Gonzalez’s (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) Le Mans charge as the Spaniard went unbeaten on Friday in France. Diogo Moreira’s (Italtrans Racing Team) late lap saw the Brazilian grab P2 ahead of third place Filip Salač (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team).

It was an eventful afternoon affair in Moto2, with some notable crashes and gremlins. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was an early faller at Turn 7 but was thankfully OK, whilst Salac suffered a mechanical problem around the halfway point. Then, with just over five minutes to go, a red flag for a fall involving Alex Escrig (KLINT Forward Factory Team) at Turn 14 brought out at the red flag due to gravel on track.

Just three tenths of a second adrift of the all-time lap record after just Friday’s sessions, Gonzalez looks good to add to his win tally in 2025, but there’s plenty of track time left for the chasers to close in.

Le Mans Moto2 Practice Times

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

Moto3 was its usual energetic and frenetic self in a 35-minute session to determine who moves into Q2 directly and who has to fight it out in Q1. Topping the session without any such dramas, David Muñoz (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) bounced back from a crash at Turn 14 to go top late on and lead the charge into Saturday.

Muñoz led the way at the chequered flag but he highsided on the exit of Turn 14 early on in the session. A second faller at the corner a few minutes later was Jakob Rosenthaler (DENSSI Racing – BOE), which then resulted gravel on the circuit and a red flag whilst the marshals cleaned up. On the return to the track, Turn 14 was proving problematic as rookie sensation Guido Pini (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) saved a big moment before Rosenthaler’s teammate Cormac Buchanan crashed there in a similar way. This caused for yellow flags and then, in the closing stages, Buchanan fell again, making it two in one session for the #14 New Zealander.

This meant more yellow flags but sneaking a lap in to go top – after missing the first half of the session, Muñoz pipped Ryusei Yamanaka (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) and the morning’s fastest rider, Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing). Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) crashed at Turn 11 despite his best efforts to repeat his COTA save but came home fourth, ahead of best rookie and returnee Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) and fellow rookie Pini. Completing the top seven, Quiles’ teammate, Dennis Foggia.

Following his big crash in the morning, Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) was solid to move through with P8, whilst Championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) struggled throughout but salvaged ninth. Scott Ogden (CIP Green Power) rounded out the top ten ahead of Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Joel Kelso (LEVELUP – MTA), David Almansa (Leopard Racing) – who crept in during the closing minutes – and Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), making it four rookies into Q2 as well as the home Tech 3 outfit.

Joel Kelso – P12

“It hasn’t been the easiest start here at Le Mans. We’ve got decent race pace, but we need to find more speed over one lap. Tomorrow’s a new opportunity, we’ll work on qualifying speed and get ready to fight.”

Big names missing out included Perrone’s team-mate Jacob Roulstone, Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Riccardo Rossi (Rivacold Snipers Team).

Having dominated FP1, there was no catching Rueda again in the afternoon heat as from the get-go, the Spaniard was P1. Once the out-and-out time attack laps landed towards the end of Practice, Rueda stretched his legs further to lap just under a second away from the all-time lap record.

Le Mans Moto3 Practice Times

Moto3 Championship Standings

MotoE Qualifying

The 2025 FIM MotoE World Championship started with some drama and the timesheets are close as ever, with pole decided on Friday by just 0.009s. Alessandro Zaccone (Aruba Cloud MotoE Team) pipped Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) to the top in Q2 at the Michelin Grand Prix of France, with Oscar Gutierrez (MSI Racing Team) completing the front row.

Reigning World Champion Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP) didn’t make it quite to the first qualifying of the season as the #1 was sidelined after a crash earlier in the day. He was declared unfit due to a cut on his right elbow sustained during the incident so he’ll have to watch the first 50 points of the year go on offer without him. We wish him a quick recovery!

Meanwhile, Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team) has an uphill struggle although not quite of that magnitude, with the #40 crashing in Q2 and left to start 10th after not setting a lap. The crash was a low drama lowside, but a bent handlebar put paid to any improvements.

The decisive laps came in around halfway through the Q2 session, with Gutierrez bettered by Granado and then Zaccone. From there on in, no one could threaten the top three, leaving Andrea Mantovani (KLINT Forward Factory Team), Kevin Zannoni (Power Electronics Aspar Team) and his teammate Jordi Torres forced to settle for Row 2 – and Mantovani having come through Q1.

The third row comprises Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE), who topped Q1 and was the other graduate, top rookie Lorenzo Baldassarri (Dynavolt Intact GP), and Maria Herrera (KLINT Forward Racing Team), who went straight through to Q2 on one of her best MotoE Fridays so far.

One notable name missing is multiple race winner Nicholas Spinelli (Rivacold Snipers Team MotoE), who didn’t make it through Q1 after the session was red flagged with 90 seconds left. He’s p11, just behind Casadei.

MotoE Combined Qualifying Times

2025 MotoGP Calendar