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"

MotoGP 2014
Qualifying Round 5   France

Results Session

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'32.042
2 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'32.734
3 Dovizioso Andrea 04 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1'32.755
4 Bradl Stefan 6 GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1'32.846
5 Rossi Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'32.873
6 Lorenzo Jorge 99 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'32.899
7 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA Go & Fun Honda Gresini Honda 1'33.006
8 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1'33.015
9 Pedrosa Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'33.023
10 Smith Bradley 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'33.058
11 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA Ducati 1'33.102
12 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1'33.315
14 Hernandez Yonny 68 COL Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 1'33.999
15 Edwards Colin 5 USA Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1'34.203
16 Redding Scott 45 GBR Go & Fun Honda Gresini Honda 1'34.233
17 Aoyama Hiroshi 7 JPN Aspar Team Honda 1'34.457
18 Abraham Karel 17 CZE AB Motoracing Honda 1'34.880
19 Barbera Hector 8 SPA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1'35.499
20 Parkes Broc 23 AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1'35.795
21 Laverty Michael 70 GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1'35.932
22 Di Meglio Mike 63 FRA Avintia Racing Avintia 1'36.163
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 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)
2022 Race Winner Enea Bastianini (Ducati)