MotoGP LIVE Le Mans France FP3: Marc Marquez ahead of Lorenzo Savadori!

Article updated continuously until the end of the session. In view of this 2021 edition of the French Grand Prix which takes place at Le Mans, Johann zarco, fabio quartararo, Maverick Vinales, Espargaro Pol, Franco Morbidelli, Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller, Marc Márquez, Valentino Rossi and Takaaki Nakagami were able to take advantage of a single dry session yesterday afternoon to appear in the provisional top 10.

Here are the last 5 minutes of this FP2, undoubtedly essential for qualification:

As stated Johann zarco during his debriefing, the direct transition to the final qualification is fundamental in terms of energy gain. And this is indeed the configuration that seems to be taking shape since, if it is not raining this morning on the Bugatti circuit, its still wet track still seems to require the use of rain tires for the moment and, in any case, does not seem not able to allow an improvement in times. In this regard, the Michelin Power Rain are offered in Soft and Medium for the front and rear, the two rears being asymmetrical with a harder right side.

La national weather, she does not get wet and announces everything and its opposite... Instead of anticipating, we are therefore forced to note a uniformly gray sky and temperatures of 13° in the air and 7° on the track.

The gaps being particularly tight this year, the cards are completely redistributed for this 5th round of a MotoGP World Championship currently led by 2 points by Francis Bagnaia before Fabio Quartararo. Johann zarco occupies 5th position, 2 points behind Maverick Vinales and 1 behind Joan mir : suffice to say that there is hardly any room for error for these 5 drivers who will have to try to reconcile performance and… staying on their wheels on Sunday!

As the 22 pilots prepare under the lenses of Dorna's cameras, let's enjoy these few minutes of live footage thanks to the official website MotoGP.com:

Here are the past references:

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)
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)

When the red lights go out... Franco Morbidelli continues the tradition by setting off first on the track.

Everyone is equipped with rain tires, mostly soft, even if Marc Marquez, Enea Bastianini and Danilo Petrucci leave in medium/medium.

Alex Espargaro immediately encountered a technical problem and brought his Aprilia RS–GP back through the safety route: a complicated start to the weekend for the Catalan rider, after the two falls yesterday afternoon!

At the end of the first round, alex rins leads in 1'48.807, a time undermined in the following passages by the Suzuki driver in 1'47.422 then 1'46.771.

The times continue to go down, and it's Danilo Petrucci, author of a very difficult day yesterday, who provisionally won this morning in 1'45.952 during his fourth flying lap.

Joan mir however surpasses the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing rider in 1'45.422 before Jack Miller, author yesterday of the best time in FP1 in the same conditions, improves the provisional reference to 1'45.025.

Joan mir is however the first to go below the 1'45 mark, but is quickly joined in this very private club by Jack Miller : leadership continues to be exchanged between the two men, Jack Miller finally taking the advantage in 1'43.857 during only his fourth flying lap. The performance was good but ended in the gravel trap of turn #6, without serious consequences for the Australian.

After this rather breathtaking start, the ranking of the session therefore presents Jack Miller in front of Joan Mir, Danilo Petrucci, Miguel Oliveira, Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, the Marini case, Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins, Alex Márquez, Brad Binder, Takaaki Nakagami, Valentino Rossi, Tito Rabat, Lorenzo Savadori, Iker Lecuona, Enea Bastianini, Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro while his brother Aleix still hasn't done a timed lap.

Marc Márquez produced his effort mid-session and initially positioned himself 4th before seizing the leadership in 1'42.894. It's a pleasure to see the Honda driver gradually returning to his best level!

The track seems to be improving and, on the next pass, Joan Mir et Maverick Vinales are getting closer to the Cervera driver who nevertheless improves in 1'42.704...

At the start of the last quarter of an hour, there are only five left in the same second: Marc Marquez, Joan Mir, Alex Rins, Maverick Vinales and Iker Lecuona which ends up falling at the Dunlop.

Johann zarco then appears in 14th position, fabio quartararo in the 19th place, more than three seconds behind: obviously, there is no point in taking risks in this very delicate session...

However, Miguel Oliveira rises to third position while fabio quartararo achieved a good lap which was canceled due to the yellow flags displayed for the fall of Iker Lecuona. Miguel Oliveira then achieved the best time of the session in 1'42.508, while Lorenzo Savadori shines again in the wet by entering the top 5!

Johann zarco rises to sixth place, Lorenzo Savadori to the second, but it is Marc Márquez who takes command again in 1'41.783. All these drivers are equipped with medium tires on a track which is starting to dry…

In the last three minutes, no less than 10 improved the first sector, 5 improved the second and finally only one improved the best time: Lorenzo Savadori, in 1'41.349!

Marc Márquez However, spoils the Italian's joy by setting a 1'40.736.

Once back in the pitlane, Franco Morbidelli unfortunately seems to have twisted his left knee in a rehearsal of changing bikes in preparation for a flag to flag race.

Another worrying sign, in these very delicate conditions and like yesterday morning in FP1, no Yamaha is in the top 10!

 

See you at 13:30 p.m. for FP4 then the qualifications!

FP3 ranking of the French MotoGP Grand Prix at Le Mans:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com