John N
Francesco Bagnaia claimed his second consecutive pole position of the 2022 MotoGP season at Le Mans, leading a 1-2 for the factory Ducati team in French Grand Prix qualifying.
Italian racer Fabio Bagnaia broke the Circuit Bugatti lap record in the pole shootout on Saturday, lapping the track in 1m30.450s to secure the fifth pole for a Ducati rider seven qualifying sessions.
Jack Miller backed up Bagnaia’s performance to grab the second spot on the grid, setting a time just 0.069s than his teammate. Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro continued his strong run in France by securing a place on the front row for the third consecutive race weekend with a time of 1m30.609s.
In the session, reigning MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo traded lap times with Bagnaia early on, briefly claiming provisional pole with a 1m30.688s flier.
However, the French rider couldn’t keep up with Bagnaia’s pace in the second part of qualifying and eventually slipped to fourth on the grid, missing a spot on the front row by 0.089s.
Enea Bastianini produced a solid lap time of 1m30.711s to claim fifth for the Gresini Ducati team, beating the top Pramac Ducati bike of FP3 pacesetter Johann Zarco.
Joan Mir will head up the third row of the grid after successfully progressing to the second leg of qualifying from Q1, with Suzuki teammate Alex Rins and Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin – who also had to go through Q1 – starting alongside him in eighth and ninth respectively.
Marc Marquez could do no better than 10th after making a mistake on his flying lap on his second bike, having damaged his primary machine in a crash in final practice.
However, he still ended up at the top with Honda on the grid. Factory teammate Pol Espargaro ended up just behind him in 11th, and Takaaki Nakagami managed only 12th on the LCR-run bike.
Several leading names were eliminated in Q1 and will have to start the race from the lower half of the grid, with Maverick Vinales set to line up 14th on the Aprilia and Franco Morbidelli starting further down in 19th on the second of the two factories, Yamahas.
KTM riders will also have a mountain to climb in the race, with factory duo Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder starting only 17th and 18th, respectively.
2022 French Grand Prix – Q1 results:
| Cla | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jorge Martin |
 |
Ducati | 8 | 1’30.804 | ||
| 2 | Joan Mir |
 |
Suzuki | 9 | 1’30.933 | 0.129 | 0.129 |
| 3 |  Marco Bezzecchi |
 |
Ducati | 8 | 1’30.940 | 0.136 | 0.007 |
| 4 | Maverick Viñales |
 |
Aprilia | 8 | 1’31.271 | 0.467 | 0.331 |
| 5 | Luca Marini |
 |
Ducati | 9 | 1’31.363 | 0.559 | 0.092 |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio |
 |
Ducati | 8 | 1’31.487 | 0.683 | 0.124 |
| 7 |  Miguel Oliveira |
 |
KTM | 8 | 1’31.547 | 0.743 | 0.060 |
| 8 |  Brad Binder |
 |
KTM | 8 | 1’31.610 | 0.806 | 0.063 |
| 9 | Franco Morbidelli |
 |
Yamaha | 9 | 1’31.617 | 0.813 | 0.007 |
| 10 | Andrea Dovizioso |
 |
Yamaha | 9 | 1’31.618 | 0.814 | 0.001 |
| 11 | Alex Marquez |
Honda | 9 | 1’31.763 | 0.959 | 0.145 | |
| 12 |  Remy Gardner |
 |
KTM | 8 | 1’31.820 | 1.016 | 0.057 |
| 13 | Darryn Binder |
 |
Yamaha | 7 | 1’32.596 | 1.792 | 0.776 |
| 14 | Raúl Fernández |
 |
KTM | 8 | 1’32.767 | 1.963 | 0.171 |
2022 French Grand Prix – Q2 results:
| Cla | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia |
 |
Ducati | 9 | 1’30.450 | ||
| 2 | Jack Miller |
 |
Ducati | 9 | 1’30.519 | 0.069 | 0.069 |
| 3 | Aleix Espargaro |
 |
Aprilia | 8 | 1’30.609 | 0.159 | 0.090 |
| 4 |  Fabio Quartararo |
 |
Yamaha | 8 | 1’30.688 | 0.238 | 0.079 |
| 5 | Enea Bastianini |
 |
Ducati | 9 | 1’30.711 | 0.261 | 0.023 |
| 6 | Johann Zarco |
|
Ducati | 8 | 1’30.863 | 0.413 | 0.152 |
| 7 | Joan Mir |
 |
Suzuki | 7 | 1’30.943 | 0.493 | 0.080 |
| 8 | Alex Rins |
 |
Suzuki | 8 | 1’30.977 | 0.527 | 0.034 |
| 9 | Jorge Martin |
 |
Ducati | 7 | 1’31.068 | 0.618 | 0.091 |
| 10 | Marc Marquez |
 |
Honda | 7 | 1’31.148 | 0.698 | 0.080 |
| 11 | Pol Espargaro |
 |
Honda | 8 | 1’31.526 | 1.076 | 0.378 |
| 12 |  Takaaki Nakagami |
Honda | 9 | 1’31.595 | 1.145 | 0.069 |
2022 French Grand Prix – Starting grid:
| Cla | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia |
 |
Ducati | 1’30.450 | |
| 2 | Jack Miller |
 |
Ducati | 1’30.519 | 0.069 |
| 3 | Aleix Espargaro |
 |
Aprilia | 1’30.609 | 0.159 |
| 4 | Fabio Quartararo |
|
Yamaha | 1’30.688 | 0.238 |
| 5 | Enea Bastianini |
|
Ducati | 1’30.711 | 0.261 |
| 6 | Johann Zarco |
|
Ducati | 1’30.863 | 0.413 |
| 7 | Joan Mir |
 |
Suzuki | 1’30.943 | 0.493 |
| 8 | Alex Rins |
 |
Suzuki | 1’30.977 | 0.527 |
| 9 | Jorge Martin |
|
Ducati | 1’31.068 | 0.618 |
| 10 | Marc Marquez |
|
Honda | 1’31.148 | 0.698 |
| 11 | Pol Espargaro |
 |
Honda | 1’31.526 | 1.076 |
| 12 | Takaaki Nakagami |
Honda | 1’31.595 | 1.145 | |
| 13 | Marco Bezzecchi |
 |
Ducati | 1’30.940 | 0.490 |
| 14 | Maverick Viñales |
|
Aprilia | 1’31.271 | 0.821 |
| 15 | Luca Marini |
 |
Ducati | 1’31.363 | 0.913 |
| 16 | Fabio Di Giannantonio |
 |
Ducati | 1’31.487 | 1.037 |
| 17 | Miguel Oliveira |
 |
KTM | 1’31.547 | 1.097 |
| 18 | Brad Binder |
|
KTM | 1’31.610 | 1.160 |
| 19 | Franco Morbidelli |
 |
Yamaha | 1’31.617 | 1.167 |
| 20 | Andrea Dovizioso |
|
Yamaha | 1’31.618 | 1.168 |
| 21 | Alex Marquez |
Honda | 1’31.763 | 1.313 | |
| 22 | Remy Gardner |
 |
KTM | 1’31.820 | 1.370 |
| 23 | Darryn Binder |
 |
Yamaha | 1’32.596 | 2.146 |
| 24 | Raúl Fernández |
|
KTM | 1’32.767 | 2.317 |
The 2022 MotoGP French GP will get underway at 2 pm local time (1 pm BST) on Sunday.
