French MotoGP, Le Mans – Friday Practice Results

* Rookie

Official Le Man MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 30.450s (2022)
Fastest race lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 31.778s (2022)

Jack Miller leads a KTM one-three in a dry opening practice for the 2023 French MotoGP at Le Mans.

VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini split the orange machines, ahead of Jerez Sprint winner Brad Binder. Both Miller and Binder were running the new square rear wing used by Dani Pedrosa at Jerez.

With wet weather a risk throughout the weekend, the closing stages of the 45mins saw time attacks for a top ten place.

When the chequered flag waved, the likes of home star Fabio Quartararo and the returning Marc Marquez were outside the top ten and will need to hope for dry conditions this afternoon to avoid a visit to Qualifying 1.

Marquez, competing in his first MotoGP session since breaking his thumb in a collision with Miguel Oliveira at the Portimao season-opener, fell in the opening 15 minutes of his return to Repsol Honda, losing the front at Turn 11.

Twelfth fastest at the time of the fall, Marquez immediately checked the thumb as he walked away before getting a scooter ride back to the pits.

That accident forced Marquez to switch to his second bike, fitted with the Kalex chassis, with which he went on to set his best lap of the session, albeit still in twelfth place.

Team-mate Joan Mir also tried the Kalex frame from the middle stages onwards and claimed a competitive sixth.

LCR’s Alex Rins has one of Mir’s former frames to try this weekend, while team-mate Takaaki Nakagami pulled off track with smoke billowing from the rear of his bike before returning for a time attack.

World championship leader Francesco Bagnaia took the final top ten place.

Quartararo had a Jerez test frame available on one of his factory Yamahas and featured at the front, but was pushed out of the top ten by the spate of late improvements.

2020 Le Mans winner Danilo Petrucci, hired to ride in place of the injured Enea Bastianini at the factory Ducati team this weekend, was 19th quickest, ahead of fellow replacements Lorenzo Savadori and Jonas Folger.

Raul Fernandez, who recently underwent arm pump surgery, only completed three laps and has withdrawn from the remainder of the weekend.

• McWilliams: “Quartararo, Marquez need European bikes” | Fears for Yamaha, Honda
• Marc Marquez returns to MotoGP action at Le Mans
• McWilliams: “They’re penalising MotoGP riders for attempting to race”

Marc Marquez has finally been cleared to make a MotoGP return this weekend after being ruled out of Argentina, COTA and Jerez due to a delicate thumb fracture when he lost control under braking and collided with Miguel Oliveira in the Portimao season-opener.

Earlier this week, the MotoGP Court of Appeal also confirmed that Marquez will not need to serve the double Long lap penalty he received for causing that incident, having overturned the FIM Stewards attempt to shift the penalty from ‘Argentina’ to Marquez’s next race back.

The eight-time world champion is 80 points behind reigning champion and 2023 title leader Francesco Bagnaia, but with 592 points still available (92 more than the entire 2022 season) under the new Sprint (12 points) + GP (25) race weekend format.

Danilo Petrucci is returning to MotoGP action in place of the injured Enea Bastianini, riding for the same factory Ducati team with which he won in the wet at Le Mans in 2020.

After leaving MotoGP as a full-time rider following a tough year at Tech3 KTM in 2021, Petrucci competed in the Dakar and MotoAmerica before a one-off MotoGP ride for Suzuki at Buriram last season.

The Italian, 32, is currently eleventh in the World Superbike standings with a best finish of fifth place for Barni Ducati.

Bastianini, who broke his shoulder when he was taken down by Luca Marini in the Portimao sprint race, attempted to return at Jerez but withdrew due to the pain.

Miguel Oliveira is missing after suffering a left shoulder dislocation and fracture when he was caught up in Fabio Quartararo’s opening lap accident in Jerez.

Oliveira, who previously missed Argentina due to hip injuries from the impact by Marc Marquez’s Honda at Portimao, is being replaced at RNF by Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori.

GASGAS Tech3’s Pol Espargaro remains absent due to his multiple injuries in Portimao and is again replaced by KTM test rider Jonas Folger.