The Repsol Honda Team rider competes for podium positions for much of the race, while Joan Mir places fourteenth
The second day of the French Grand Prix saw a sprint race held for the premier class at Le Mans.
Marc Márquez, who started the day knowing that he would contest Q2 thanks to the more favourable weather on Friday, achieved the second best time of 1’30.763 in the session -a time that earned him a place on the front row of the grid for the sprint race and the race itself on Sunday.
After making a great start, he rode in the podium places and maintained a consistent pace without taking too many risks. Márquez eventually crossed the finish line fifth and earned five points.
Joan Mir had to go through Q1 and, with a best time of 1:31.810, was unable to make the cut for Q2. Starting sixteenth from the sixth row of the grid, the Repsol Honda Team rider finished the Sprint Race fourteenth.
On Sunday the MotoGP race will take place at 2pm CEST-
MARC MÁRQUEZ – 5th
“We had a good race today; it was nice to be back and riding. Being in the top five was our main target and we were able to achieve it, so the team and I are happy with this after so long away. Maybe if we had the perfect race in every aspect we could have battled for the podium, but Martin and Binder were really fast today. The biggest surprise today was the pace at the end of the race, I was gaining a lot of ground and feeling better on the bike with more and more laps. Tomorrow, we have another race so another chance to keep on learning and improving.”
JOAN MIR – 14th
“It was a hard race today to be honest, we have some areas we need to improve. I wasn’t able to exploit my maximum potential, both the team and I need to keep working to understand how to take the most from this bike. I am trying to change to style a bit to understand what works better, but we aren’t in the position we want to be at the moment. Tomorrow we have another race to keep on learning.”
