MotoGP 2022 – Round Seven
SHARK Grand Prix de France
Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) was back in Beast mode at the SHARK Grand Prix de France, fastest on Friday and with a new lap record of a 1’31.148, despite a subsequent crash. The Gresini rider tops the time-sheets heading into Saturday by two-tenths, ahead of Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), who continues to consistently rank near the front in 2022. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completed the top three, less than a tenth off the Aprilia ahead.
Behind Bastianini, Aleix Espargaro, Rins, Zarco and Bagnaia, it’s reigning Champion Quartararo who slots into sixth. KTM’s Brad Binder is seventh ahead of Mir, with Pol Espargaro in the combined top 10 by virtue of his FP1 benchmark. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) was ninth in FP2 and 10th overall.
With work to do in FP3 is therefore is early pace-setter Jack Miller, who slipped to 11th on combined times after experiencing what he called ‘a strange crash’ and then some yellow flag incidents preventing him from putting a hot lap in.
Marc Marquez is down in P15 after pulling off another trademark save that when Jack Miller saw it happen on the monitors in the Ducati pits, just shook his head….
MotoGP Rider Friday Quotes
Enea Bastianini – P1
“Too bad for the two crashes, especially the second one. I would have loved to finish the day a few seconds earlier. It’s been a very positive day nonetheless: we were very quick and comfortable in T1 from the get-go and it’s honestly the area where we have to work the least on. Things have changed compared to yesterday, where maybe we did not fully understand what happened… It happens sometimes. We are quick again and we have the right feeling.”
Aleix Espargaro – P2
“First of all, I have to say that riding here in Le Mans with this perfect weather and the grandstands full of fans is fantastic. I’m pleased with the day today. I knew I had a much-improved Aprilia but this is historically not a friendly track for me. But things went well and in the time attack on the soft tyre the feeling was maybe even better than in Jerez”.
Alex Rins – P3
“Overall it’s been a good day, with both FP1 and FP2 going well. I feel quite competitive so far, although I would like to improve the feeling with the rear because I began to suffer a lack of grip in FP2. I’m focused on the job at hand, and I feel comfortable riding around Le Mans, the bike works well here especially on the quick changes of direction and the fast corners. I want to get directly into Q2 tomorrow, the times are tight but we’ll try for sure.”
Francesco Bagnaia – P5
“It was a positive day for us. Last year I had some difficulties during the only dry session we had available, but today I was able to be fast and find confidence on the bike straight away. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make a proper time attack this afternoon because, in the last four laps, I always found the yellow flags, but in any case, we finished with the fifth-fastest time. I, Aleix Espargaro and Quartararo are the ones with the fastest pace at the moment, but we’ll see how the weekend evolves after tomorrow’s FP3.”
Fabio Quartararo – P6
“It was a good day because the pace was really good in both FP1 and FP2. We have good potential with the medium and the soft. I found quite a lot of traffic on track today, even during the time attack. I think I’m not the only one. I couldn’t improve, but I feel like it was good for collecting some data for tomorrow. At the moment it’s not clear yet who can be at the top, because everyone is so tight together here in Le Mans. It’s going to be really interesting. I feel like we are going to have a really good weekend. It felt great riding in front of so many French fans. I feel happy, and they are enjoying themselves. This is the most important.”
Joan Mir – P8
“It feels good to get back out there on the bike and concentrate on riding, and I felt strong in FP1. I had a high speed crash in FP2, which then had a bit of an impact on my performance for the rest of the day. I’m not injured, which is good, but I expect that I won’t have the best night’s sleep and I’ll be sore tomorrow. But anyway, I’m fairly competitive for the opening day and the team and I know what we have to do to continue in a good way. There were a lot of crashes and yellow flags today, which can make you lose laps, so we have to keep that in mind tomorrow.”
Pol Espargaro – P9
“This morning went very well and then in the afternoon I tried to improve my lap time but there were a lot of yellow flags which stopped some of our laps and then on our best lap I made a mistake. At the end I feel good on the bike and it’s not a bad day, but we need to perform tomorrow to end up with a good Qualifying spot. You need to start in the front two rows of the grid to perform for Sunday. We have the pace, but we need to put it together when it matters tomorrow.”
Jack Miller – P11
“Today was warmer than what we are usually used to here at Le Mans, but in any case, I felt comfortable right from this morning. In FP2, I had a crash, and it was very strange: I had the feeling that the grip was good, but probably with the warmer temperatures this afternoon, the conditions changed. Anyway, we have a good pace, which makes me confident ahead of Sunday’s race. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make a proper time attack this afternoon because of the yellow flags, so the goal tomorrow morning will be to get straight into Q2 in FP3.”
Franco Morbidelli – P12
“The conditions were a bit peculiar. There were a lot of crashes today. But speaking about myself, we’ve also today been working to improve my feeling. Actually, towards the end of the day we found a decent feeling so I could make a decent lap time and get closer to the best Yamaha, which is Fabio. So, good things today. We will try to step it up even more tomorrow. I’m feeling pretty confident.”
Maverick Vinales – P13
“Today I managed to be fast straight away, but when I tried to take the next step, I couldn’t find the right confidence to push. We’re working on that and it’s important because if we can find the benefits in the time attack on the soft tyre, our pace will also benefit. It will be important tomorrow to do well in FP3 to go through and compete with the top ten. I’ll have to stay focused and give it my all.”
Luca Marini – P14
“A day good on one hand and less on the other one. I immediately had a great feeling in the FP1 and I managed to be fast, while in the FP2 the grip was very strange. I have struggled and, compared to the others who have improved in the first run of the afternoon, I was unable to make a step forward. Let’s analyse the data and understand what’s going on. A shame then the crash in the final minutes, in my last time attack: I saw the yellow flag and I slowed down, but not enough to face the turn 3. We will start tomorrow morning from the positive things of today.”
Marc Marquez – P15
“FP2 was a real save and FP1 was more luck honestly! In FP1 I was on the kerb and I lost the front, so I tried to push with my right knee on the floor and the bike stood up when we came back to asphalt. But I am struggling a bit to understand how to be fast here. I need to turn the bike quicker and that’s where we are. We need to improve tomorrow, the target for FP3 is to get into the top ten for Q2. We will see what tomorrow bring, we already have some ideas to try.”
Takaaki Nakagami – P16
“It was a solid first day for us because before the first session I didn’t expect that I could ride the bike, so I was quite happy with the result. And then this afternoon in FP2 we had some issues so we couldn’t do as many laps as we wanted. But overall, I’m happy because I’m able to ride the bike to a good level and let’s see what we can do in tomorrow morning’s FP3 session. We’ll try to improve the feeling of the bike and I’ll have to continue to manage the condition of my knee.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio – P17
“This is maybe the first real positive day of the year. We surely made an important step forward feeling-wise on the bike and I was kind of expecting it after the test we had in Jerez. We’re starting to break hard, and we only need to find a bit more grip: there’s plenty on the track, to be honest, but we still have a bit too much spin and it’ll be important to fix this issue also with regards to qualifying.”
Marco Bezzecchi – P18
“In FP1 we managed to get off to a pretty good start and, to be honest, I have struggled more in the FP2 despite I was able to improve my lap time. The asphalt conditions this afternoon were particular tricky and I also crashed in the final minutes. It wasn’t easy to warm up the front tire well and I found myself on the ground. Overall, I am satisfied with what we did in braking and we will continue to work for a step forward for qualifying.”
Álex Márquez – P19
“First day here in France and we started ok with a good feeling in the morning, but I made a few mistakes and we weren’t able to put one lap together. In the afternoon, we started with good rhythm and were trying to be solid and trying some small things. All the time (we were getting) better and better, it was just when we put on the new tyre I made a mistake on turn seven and had a crash. At that point, with the soft tyre, I wasn’t able to improve more, but the feeling is quite good and I just need to improve in various times. Tomorrow it will be important to focus on the riding style to improve my riding lines and make less mistakes.”
Andrea Dovizioso – P20
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t do the fast lap with the soft tyre in the afternoon, because there have been a lot of yellow flags and on the last lap, I did a mistake. I could do better, for sure. I’m still happy to feel the soft with more potential, because I was struggling a bit too much with the medium rear. For tomorrow, everybody will be focused more on the soft rear and this might be the race tyre as well. But let’s see. With the medium, I’m pretty good, but I don’t feel that confident on maximum angle, so I expected a bit more. Tomorrow everybody will use a different tyre anyway, so we have to wait and see what we can do.”
Remy Gardner – P22
“Tough day for most of the KTM bikes today, except Brad Binder maybe. We are trying to work really hard as a team to find which points we can improve so that we can be more comfortable on the bike and go faster. We will keep pushing as always tomorrow. Thank you to everyone.”
Raul Fernandez – P23
“I had a difficult day, especially at the start as I still felt some pain with my right hand. The MotoGP bike is heavy and powerful, so I need to do more laps to encounter the feelings again as I have not ridden it since my crash in Portimao. Then in the morning, I lost a bit of confidence with my crash which was stupid. We will continue to work all together with my team, find some solutions to feel better on the bike, and go faster. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Darryn Binder – P24
“We got treated with really nice weather today, which was a great thing for Le Mans. I started off this morning in FP1 just trying to learn my way around the circuit with the MotoGP bike. Unfortunately, during FP2 in the middle run I had a crash in turn seven. Luckily I managed to get out at the end and continued and finished the practice. But I feel like I wasn’t able to make the step forward that I’d like to have done, so I got a little bit of work to do for tomorrow. Overall, I’m enjoying riding the M1 here and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”
MotoGP Friday Combined Practice Times
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
1 | E.Bastianini | DUCATI | 1m31.148 |
2 | A.Espargaro | APRILIA | +0.202 |
3 | A.Rins | SUZUKI | +0.297 |
4 | J.Zarco | DUCATI | +0.360 |
5 | F.Bagnaia | DUCATI | +0.487 |
6 | F.Quartararo | YAMAHA | +0.492 |
7 | B.Binder | KTM | +0.509 |
8 | J.Mir | SUZUKI | +0.518 |
9 | P.Espargaro | HONDA | +0.623 |
10 | J.Martin | DUCATI | +0.764 |
11 | J.Miller | DUCATI | +0.766 |
12 | F.Morbidelli | YAMAHA | +0.877 |
13 | M.Viñales | APRILIA | +0.903 |
14 | L.Marini | DUCATI | +0.980 |
15 | M.Marquez | HONDA | +1.005 |
16 | T.Nakagami | HONDA | +1.017 |
17 | F.Di Giannanto | DUCATI | +1.127 |
18 | M.Bezzecchi | DUCATI | +1.166 |
19 | A.Marquez | HONDA | +1.357 |
20 | A.Dovizioso | YAMAHA | +1.388 |
21 | M.Oliveira | KTM | +1.547 |
22 | R.Gardner | KTM | +1.589 |
23 | R.Fernandez | KTM | +2.409 |
24 | D.Binder | YAMAHA | +2.413 |
Moto2
Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) topped proceedings on Friday in France, the Thai rider breaking the lap record early doors. He heads into Saturday fastest ahead of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo), but it’s close at the top with the two split by just 0.058. Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez is third overall, and almost put in the fastest lap of the day before yellow flags saw the lap cancelled.
Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) is fourth, ahead of Arbolino and Schrötter. Manzi, Dixon and Ogura are next up, with Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) completing the top ten.
Vietti was P11 by the end of play, ahead of another good performance from Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP) in 12th.
Alonso Lopez (MB Conveyors Speed Up) had a very impressive Friday as he makes his full-time Moto2 World Championship debut. He was 13th despite a crash, and just pipped Canet as the Pons rider takes 14th; the last currently on to move through…
Moto2 Friday Combined Practice Times
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
1 | S.Chantra | KALEX | 1m36.108 |
2 | P.Acosta | KALEX | +0.058 |
3 | A.Fernandez | KALEX | +0.155 |
4 | S.Lowes | KALEX | +0.295 |
5 | T.Arbolino | KALEX | +0.409 |
6 | M.Schrotter | KALEX | +0.481 |
7 | S.Manzi | KALEX | +0.500 |
8 | J.Dixon | KALEX | +0.502 |
9 | A.Ogura | KALEX | +0.522 |
10 | A.Arenas | KALEX | +0.540 |
11 | C.Vietti | KALEX | +0.638 |
12 | B.Baltus | KALEX | +0.664 |
13 | A.Lopez | BOSCOSCURO | +0.689 |
14 | A.Canet | KALEX | +0.695 |
15 | J.Roberts | KALEX | +0.698 |
16 | M.Gonzalez | KALEX | +0.736 |
17 | J.Navarro | KALEX | +0.928 |
18 | B.Bendsneyde | KALEX | +0.929 |
19 | M.Ramirez | MV AGUSTA | +0.935 |
20 | G.Rodrigo | KALEX | +0.951 |
21 | C.Beaubier | KALEX | +1.040 |
22 | L.Dalla Porta | KALEX | +1.040 |
23 | S.Corsi | MV AGUSTA | +1.043 |
24 | F.Aldeguer | BOSCOSCURO | +1.044 |
25 | A.Zaccone | KALEX | +1.248 |
26 | F.Salac | KALEX | +1.260 |
27 | J.Alcoba | KALEX | +1.375 |
28 | Z.Van Den Goo | KALEX | +1.690 |
29 | N.Antonelli | KALEX | +1.842 |
30 | S.Kelly | KALEX | +3.095 |
Moto3
Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia ruled Friday at Le Mans, the Italian recording the three fastest laps of FP2 for an impressive 1:41.680 as his best effrot. That leaves him 0.428s clear of title rival and Jerez winner Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team), with Leopard’s Tatsuki Suzuki in P3.
Behind Foggia, Guevara, Suzuki, Tatay and Masia comes Migno in sixth thanks to his FP1 time, with Elia Bartolini (QJMOTOR Avintia Racing Team) in P7. Yamanaka is next up from his morning laptime, with Rossi and Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) in the top 10.
Rookie Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was P11 from his FP1 best, ahead of Öncü, Moreira and Xavier Artigas (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP).
Championship leader Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team), meanwhile, finds himself down in P15 and he’ll be looking for a place in Q2 on Saturday.
Young Aussie Joel Kelso is still feeling the effects of getting t-boned at the previous round and is only doing short stints.
Joel Kelso – P20
“I am really enjoying riding here In Le Mans and learning the track. Unfortunately, we are still suffering with soreness in my leg after the crash in Jerez. At the moment we are only able to do about 3 or 4 laps each run. The positive is that we are really happy with the set-up of the bike and the pace we have in those laps. We will wait and see if I am able to race come Sunday. I am keeping my fingers crossed, but also understand that I need to let my body recover!”
Moto3 Friday Combined Practice Times
Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
1 | D.Foggia | HONDA | 1m41.680 |
2 | I.Guevara | GASGAS | +0.428 |
3 | T.Suzuki | HONDA | +0.523 |
4 | C.Tatay | CFMOTO | +0.646 |
5 | J.Masia | KTM | +0.668 |
6 | A.Migno | HONDA | +0.793 |
7 | E.Bartolini | KTM | +0.872 |
8 | R.Yamanaka | KTM | +0.921 |
9 | R.Rossi | HONDA | +0.969 |
10 | A.Sasaki | HUSQVARNA | +0.998 |
11 | D.Holgado | KTM | +1.053 |
12 | D.Öncü | KTM | +1.112 |
13 | D.Moreira | KTM | +1.120 |
14 | X.Artigas | CFMOTO | +1.214 |
15 | S.Garcia | GASGAS | +1.341 |
16 | K.Toba | KTM | +1.421 |
17 | J.Mcphee | HUSQVARNA | +1.441 |
18 | M.Bertelle | KTM | +1.447 |
19 | J.Rueda | HONDA | +1.628 |
20 | J.Kelso | KTM | +1.652 |
21 | M.Aji | HONDA | +1.705 |
22 | S.Nepa | KTM | +1.736 |
23 | S.Ogden | HONDA | +1.948 |
24 | I.Ortolá | KTM | +1.955 |
25 | A.Fernandez | KTM | +2.051 |
26 | L.Fellon | HONDA | +2.133 |
27 | T.Furusato | HONDA | +2.244 |
28 | G.Riu Male | KTM | +2.431 |
29 | A.Carrasco | KTM | +3.301 |
30 | J.Whatley | HONDA | +3.964 |
MotoE
Pons Racing 40’s Mattia Casadei created a little bit of history in qualifying for Round 2 of the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup at the SHARK Grand Prix de France, and by a single thousandth. In just the second running of the Q1-Q2 format for the electric series, Casadei became the first rider to go through Q1 and convert it into pole, joined on the front row by Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) and Kevin Zannoni (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse)… and all three are covered by just 0.021.
Casadei, Aegerter and Zannoni head the front row ahead of Granado, who’ll be looking for a good launch from fourth. Torres is fifth ahead of Okubo, with the Japanese rider showing some good speed at Le Mans for a second row start.
Row 3 sees Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE) line up ahead of Niccolo Canepa (WithU GRT RNF MotoE), with Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) P9 on his return and rookie Xavi Fores (Octo Pramac MotoE) taking a key step forward into tenth.
MotoE Combined Qualifying Times
Pos | Rider | Bike | Q | Time/Gap |
1 | Mattia CASADEI | ENERGICA | Q2 | 1m43.559 |
2 | Dominique AEGERTER | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.001 |
3 | Kevin ZANNONI | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.021 |
4 | Eric GRANADO | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.223 |
5 | Jordi TORRES | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.303 |
6 | Hikari OKUBO | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.313 |
7 | Matteo FERRARI | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.505 |
8 | Niccolo CANEPA | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.708 |
9 | Xavi CARDELUS | ENERGICA | Q2 | +0.905 |
10 | Xavi FORES | ENERGICA | Q2 | +1.242 |
11 | Alex ESCRIG | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 0.316 |
12 | Hector GARZO | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 0.333 |
13 | Marc ALCOBA | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 0.430 |
14 | Miquel PONS | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 0.516 |
15 | Maria HERRERA | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 1.134 |
16 | Andrea MANTOVANI | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 1.562 |
17 | Kevin MANFREDI | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 1.712 |
18 | Alessio FINELLO | ENERGICA | Q1 | (*) 1.919 |
SHARK Grand Prix de France Schedule (AEST)
Saturday | ||
Time | Class | Event |
1700 | Moto3 | FP3 |
1755 | MotoGP | FP3 |
1855 | Moto2 | FP3 |
2035 | Moto3 | Q1 |
2100 | Moto3 | Q2 |
2130 | MotoGP | FP4 |
2210 | MotoGP | Q1 |
2235 | MotoGP | Q2 |
2310 | Moto2 | Q1 |
2335 | Moto2 | Q2 |
0025(Sun) | MotoE | Race 1 |
Sunday | ||
Time | Class | Event |
1700 | Moto3 | WU |
1720 | Moto2 | WU |
1740 | MotoGP | WU |
1900 | Moto3 | Race |
2020 | Moto2 | Race |
2200 | MotoGP | Race |
2330 | MotoE | Race 2 |