Positive steps forward for Repsol Honda Team duo on opening day of track action at the French GP, Marc Marquez returning inside the top ten with Joan Mir making strides forward in the morning.

With the positive news of Marc Marquez’s return confirmed, the Repsol Honda Team started a busy day in France. Both Marquez and Mir spent much of the first day of the French GP testing a new chassis for the Honda RC213V, assessing its performance during the intense schedule of a Grand Prix weekend. Their task was aided by a completely dry day at the 4.19 kilometre-long Le Mans circuit.

All eyes were on the #93 as Marquez returned to competition after suffering an injury at Round One in Portugal. He was immediately able to get back up to speed and began challenging for the top ten. His return did present a few challenges as 15 minutes into the first session, Marquez suffered a fall at Turn 11 but walked away unharmed before quickly returning to the track. A second fall, this time at Turn 9 during Practice 2, would end Marquez’s second session of the day but a time of 1’31.432 would see the eight-time World Champion hold onto a spot in the combined top ten. A positive first day back for Marquez.

Cooler morning conditions saw a motivated Mir immediately lapping inside the top positions of the morning session. Eventually ending in sixth place and only 0.351s from the top of the time sheets, Mir immediately feeling improvements on the Honda RC213V. His 1’31.800 from the morning session would stand as the double-World Champion’s best lap time of the day and had him end the day in 13th overall. Just 0.3s split the #36 from the top ten, Mir certain to be in contention for a transfer spot come Q1.

Forecasts suggest a dry Saturday in Le Mans with temperatures steadily working towards 20°C as the day progresses. This stability will be crucial as the Repsol Honda Team continue to work on improving the RC213V.

Marc Marquez

Eighth 1'31.432

“Today I am very happy overall; it was a good day. I crashed two times; the second time was an ‘acceptable’ crash because I was pushing at the limit on a hot lap – it can happen. After a month and a half at home, it’s not easy to go out and straight away start pushing so we have to be content with what we have done today as we made it to Q2. The objective for tomorrow is to maintain this position in the front three rows of the grid. Of course, the weather could change things here a lot, but we will keep working and adapting to whatever happens. I still need to work a bit to keep improving my feeling and also to improve the performance overall.”

Joan Mir

13th 1'31.800

“We tried a new chassis today in the morning and I was able to improve my feeling, riding more comfortably but we still need to adapt the setting and myself to take the maximum from it. Everything in the morning was very easy, then in the afternoon it was a little more complicated and we need to analyse tonight what changed from practice to practice. We will keep working tomorrow in a similar way, looking for those last few tenths to fight for Q2.”

MotoGP 2023
Practice Round 5   France

Friday Practice - French Grand Prix

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Miller Jack 43 AUS Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'30.950
2 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 0.119
3 Bezzecchi Marco 72 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 0.200
4 Martin Jorge 89 SPA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.285
5 Zarco Johann 5 FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.326
6 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 0.392
7 Binder Brad 33 RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.402
8 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.482
9 Bagnaia Francesco 1 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.517
10 Marquez Alex 73 SPA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.558
11 Marini Luca 10 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 0.561
12 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.700
13 Mir Joan 36 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.850
14 Rins Alex 42 SPA LCR Honda Honda 0.992
15 Fernandez Augusto 37 SPA Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 1.040
16 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 1.048
17 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1.193
18 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 1.361
19 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 2.072
20 Savadori Lorenzo 32 ITA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 2.539
21 Folger Jonas 94 GER Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 2.722
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

www.lemans.org

Records

Pole Position 1m 29.919s (167.5km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducat,2024)
Race Lap 1m 31.107s (165.3km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2024)
Race Time 41m 23.709s (163.7 km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducat,2024)
2024 Race Winner Jorge Martin (Ducat)
2024 Sprint Winner Jorge Martin (Ducat)