Johann Zarco fuels French hearts and tops Friday practice. The lap time was only 0.010 seconds faster than Fabio Di Gianantonio, with Francesco Bagnaia a further 0.1 seconds behind.
The session got off to a slow start, with the top four remaining unchanged for the first 25 minutes. The top four were from four different manufacturers: Pedro Acosta (KTM), Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), Joan Mir (Honda), and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia).
Eventually, the top spot was taken by Fabio Di Gianantonio. The first bit of excitement came from Raúl Fernández, whose Aprilia caught fire due to a mechanical issue. Luckily, he managed to get it off the circuit, and a marshal put it out safely.
Bagnaia seemed to find the pace. He and his Ducati have had a tough start to the season. The luck seems to have shifted to Marc Márquez, who never seems to look uncomfortable during the session and never kept up with the pace of the frontrunners.
Johann Zarco pleased French fans on his first attack. He went to the top with 15 minutes left in the session. He was followed around by his teammate Diogo Moreira, who followed him to fourth. However, he didn’t stay in that place when he was setting the pace on his own.
Last Ten Minutes
As always, the last 10 minutes cause chaos with everyone fighting to get into Q2. The chaos started with Pedro Acosta crashing out. He set off running back to the pit lane to try and get on his spare bike before the end of the session.
The rider at the top kept changing, with everyone going for their fast laps. Johann Zarco, Joan Mir, Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Di Gianantonio, and Álex Márquez all had the top spot at some point during the session.
All of the manufacturers seem to be strong around this circuit, even Yamaha, with Álex Rins taking third at one point.
With everyone pushing the championship leader, Marco Bezzecchi and one of the championship favourites, Marc Márquez, were struggling to find laps to compete at the top.
Bagnaia crashed with 10 seconds left in the session, bringing out the yellow flag and ruining people’s chances of a fast lap. It was eventually Johann Zarco who came out on top. All five manufacturers did get at least one bike through into Q2.
Top 10 Progressing to Q2
Looking at Tomorrow
The rest of the weekend looks wide open. With so many different bikes and names heading straight to Q2 shows anything can happen at Le Mans. The weather will play a big part over the rest of the weekend as well, with heavy rain expected on Sunday, and maybe a bit on Saturday.
Could the French fans get two wins from a French person two years in a row, after waiting so long for one?
Make sure to follow along with us to see what other drama this weekend brings.