MotoGP LIVE France Le Mans Q1: the rain smiles on Savadori and Marini

ARTICLE UPDATED UNTIL THE END OF THE SESSION

The moment of the quarter-hour cutoff for the repechage has arrived in this French Grand Prix with the autumn weather which is putting the drivers to the test. The latter fall, like rain sometimes, and the numbers for this Q1 show that the downpour also overturns the hierarchy. Two drivers will come out of the exercise to then continue in Q2 where, for the moment, there are no more Suzukis than Aprilias…

Indeed, the World Champion Joan mir and his teammate Alex Rins are once again forced to take risks to secure the best possible place on the starting grid for an event at Le Mans which has rarely been successful for them since the era of the GSX-RR.

At Aprilia, if the rain gets involved, we can expect anything from a Lorenzo Savadori always surprising if the track gets wet. His teammate Aleix Espargaró, on the other hand, will have to stop his bad series of falls. A habit that cannot be lost, however. Alex Marquez while we wait for a burst of Petrucci at KTM. It was still him who triumphed last year on this terrain and in the same conditions. But he was then on a Ducati that had been perfectly known since its debut.

lecuona et bastianini as Binder will also be keen to cause a sensation. Before jumping into the fray, here is the table which serves as a summary of the facts.

MotoGP™ Le Mans	2020	2020
FP1	1'43.804 Bradley Smith (See here)	1'38.007 Jack Miller (See here)
FP2	1'34.133 Jack Miller (See here)	1'31.747 Johann Zarco (See here)
FP3	1'32.319 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'40.736 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP4	1'32.528 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'42.550 Lorenzo Savadori
Q1	1'31.952 Danilo Petrucci (See here)
Q2	1'31.315 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Warm Up	1'32.869 Franco Morbidelli (See here)
Course	Petrucci, Alex Marquez, Pol Espargaro (See here)
All time lap record	1'31.185 Johann Zarco (2018)

15.5° on a wet track and 20.7° in the air are the very delicate conditions offered to the pilots for this 15-minute exercise. The rain that decided to invite itself at the end of the FP4 will be there. The pilots Honda, despite themselves, showed the difficulty in mastering a MotoGP in these conditions...

 

At Suzuki, the pressure is there...

These conditions undoubtedly make at least one person happy in the person of Lorenzo Savadori. Here we go !

The first reference is signed by Mir in 1'46.539 which is practically a second better than his second and teammate alex rins. Alas for Savadori whose time we were waiting for, it's the fall...

lecuona goes second, four tenths behind the World Champion. But Kidneys reacts and pushes it back by 66 thousandths. The sun, for its part, makes a breakthrough… Mir drives the point home in 1'44.995. This time his runner-up is Aleix I will espargaro and his Aprilia. But Kidneys, once again counterattacks and goes second.

There are five minutes left, no one is entering the box given the track conditions. the rain tire becomes more efficient. So much so thatAlex Espargaro takes the lead in 1'44.720. The great anchor of the debates is for the moment the leader of the championship bagnaia, only sixth. Petrucci goes second, and pushes the Suzuki out of Q2. Alex Marquez fall. He was fourth. The yellow flags are out...

We're entering the last minute... Rabat fall. Under the checkered flag, Savadori takes the lead in 1'42.550 ahead Marini. Alex Espargaro is the first eliminated. Next Mir et Kidneys and bagnaia.

Ranking of Qualification 1 of the French MotoGP Grand Prix at Le Mans:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com