Marquez thunders to 5th consecutive pole taking new lap record en route
After dominating the French GP weekend so far, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez recorded his fifth pole of the season – in as many races – and set the fastest lap ever on two wheels at the Le Mans circuit. Teammate Dani Pedrosa will start from the third row of the grid in ninth position after struggling with the time attack in qualifying.
It was another thrilling session in sunny conditions in Le Mans with Marc wasting no time to set a fast time on his first run. However, on his second exit of Q2 Marc bettered his own time by half a second and lapped the 4.185km circuit in a new record time of 1’32.042, which was 0.692 faster than anyone else, and beat Dani’s record time from 2008 – on qualifying tyres – by 0.605s (1’32.647).
It was a tougher session for Dani who has been fast all weekend but wasn’t able to push in qualifying this afternoon. Despite being the fastest rider in the speed trap with a top speed of 309.7km/h, Dani was only able to qualify ninth for tomorrows 28 lap race with a time of 1’33.023.
Marc Marquez
“I'm very happy to be on pole and also with the gap between myself and second place on the timesheet. Tomorrow will be interesting as my main rivals - Dani, Jorge and Valentino - are not on the front row but on rows two and three. However, I know they will be there in the battle and we must be prepared. Starting from pole is an advantage and I will try to capitalise from it and give 100% - as always - to fight for the win!”
Dani Pedrosa
"Free practice wasn't too bad for us, but in qualifying we weren't so great. I’m riding a little smoother this weekend and not so aggressive, due to my injured forearm, and when I wanted to push to improve my times I wasn’t really able to. I think that in general we have done a good job in practice and I will try to get a good start tomorrow, because I am very far back. It will be important to bring the tyre temperature up on the warmup lap and try to overtake some riders in the opening laps"
Results Session
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
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Rider standings
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor |
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Location Information
Built in 1965 around the existing 24-Hour track, the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit lies 5km south of the city of Le Mans and 200km south-west of Paris. The venue has hosted Grand Prix since the late sixties but a serious accident to Spanish rider Alberto Puig in… read more.
| Length | 4.185 kilometres / 2.6 miles |
| Width | 13 metres |
| Left corners | 5 |
| Right corners | 9 |
| Longest straight | 0.674 kilometres / 0.419 miles |
| Constructed | 1966 |
| Modified | 2008 |
| Resurfacing | Resurfaced before 2017 round |
Automobile Club de l'Ouest, Le Mans, France - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m 30.450s (166.5km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022) |
| Race Lap | 1m 31.778s (164.1km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022) |
| Race Time | 41m 34.613s (163 km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2022) |
| 2023 Race Winner | Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) |
| 2023 Sprint Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducat) |
