Spanish rider takes 25 premier class pole position, over half a second ahead of nearest rival. Dani Pedrosa to start from the third row in eighth place.
Marc Marquez made the most of the short qualifying session for the French Grand Prix to clinch pole position at Le Mans. The Repsol Honda Team rider will head a grid in which Dani Pedrosa will take off from eighth place, after a second day of practice following his return to MotoGP action.
On a day hindered by unstable weather conditions, Marquez and Pedrosa were sixth and seventh, respectively, in the last dry free practice. That session had been contested on a dry track, but with temperatures barely reaching 14°C. The fourth and final practice session was affected by light rainfall that had arrived during Moto3 qualifying, leaving times far off those set earlier on. Pedrosa took third place and Marquez sixth.
In the qualifying session, with a dry asphalt and tempetatures rising to 17ºC, Marc Marquez set the pace from the start. Using his two softer tire compounds, the reigning MotoGP World Champion stopped the clock at 1:32.246. That time was more than half a second faster than second-placed Andrea Dovizioso, and meant that he will head the grid for the twenty-fifth time in his MotoGP career. Dani Pedrosa will start from the third row, in eighth place, for a race that starts tomorrow at 2pm local time.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st, 1:32.246 sec, 40 laps, 167 km.
“Every time that we have gone out on track this weekend we have made big changes, in order to decide which direction to take things with the setup. In qualifying we used the best setup that we had found. We were lucky that the track was in good condition which allowed me to ride normally. I am happy with pole position and tomorrow a tough race awaits us, because Jorge especially has a very good pace. We will try to be as close to him as we can!”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
8th 1:33.419 sec, 35 laps, 146 km.
“This first qualifying session back has not gone badly. We could have gone a little faster but in the end I didn’t quite manage it. The positive news is that today I am feeling a little better physically than yesterday and that’s a good thing!”
