14:23
Marc Marquez takes over top spot with a 1m30.886s on a 10-lap-old soft rear.
Johann Zarco, LCR Honda, 2025 Spanish MotoGP
© Gold and Goose
2025 French MotoGP: Friday practice as it happened
Live text coverage of Friday practice at the 2025 MotoGP French Grand Prix
The sixth round of the 2025 MotoGP season takes place on 9-11 May at Le Mans with the French Grand Prix.
The championship battle has once again been reset after a dramatic Spanish GP two weeks ago.
A maiden victory for Gresini Ducati's Alex Marquez sees him lead the championship again by a point, capitalising on a second grand prix crash for factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez at Jerez.
Marc Marquez held his hands up to his mistake and admits he cannot continue to make them given the speed he has shown all year so far.
Le Mans has been a happy hunting ground for Ducati, with it unbeaten at the French GP venue since 2020. In the last three years, it has been a place of victory for satellite Ducati riders - something Alex Marquez will hope to continue this weekend.
Pecco Bagnaia is confident that changes made to his Ducati in a recent test will help him find the form he needs to take a step forward.
He comes into the French GP 20 points off the championship lead after finishing third at Jerez.
Home fans will be expecting more big things from Fabio Quartararo, after the Yamaha rider scored a first podium since 2023 last time out in Spain having also qualified on pole.
The crowd will also be hoping to see Johann Zarco up at the sharp end, as he looks to strengthen his case to make a move to the factory Honda team next season.
Honda will field a wildcard in the form of Takaaki Nakagami this weekend, while LCR's Somkiat Chantra is out with injury.
FP1 begins at 9:50am GMT, while Practice is at 2pm GMT.
09 May 2025
14:24
Crash - Ai Ogura
Ai Ogura has crashed at Turn 7. Front went very early. He's up and on his feet, but that looked sore.
14:21
Standings after 20 minutes
- Quartararo
- A.Marquez
- Miller
- Vinales
- Bagnaia
- Acosta
- Aldeguer
- Bezzecchi
- Binder
- Mir
- M.Marquez
- Zarco
- Marini
- Ogura
- Bastianini
- Fernandez
- Di Giannantonio
- Rins
- Nakagami
- Morbidelli
- Oliveira
- Savadori
14:17
Everything has settled into a bit of rhythm for the riders as they work on race set-up. Quartararo the only ride in the 1m30s at this stage.
14:12
Bit of a mistake from Bagnaia at Turn 8 while on a push lap, but he thought better than to try and force the issue.
14:10
The Yamahas have come to Le Mans with an upgraded engine and a modified chassis, and it's clearly working out for its riders.
14:10
Quartararo is really locked in at the start of this session. He's fired in a 1m30.997s.
14:08
Quartararo improves to a 1m31.054s to head a Yamaha 1-2 at the moment from Miller.
14:07
Miller back to the top with a 1m31.347s from Bezzecchi, Binder, Quartararo and Alex Marquez.
14:05
Bagnaia now fastest on a 1m31.620s.
14:05
All change again as Brad Binder is up to top spot now with a 1m31.940s.
14:05
Fabio Quartararo has now gone top on his factory Yamaha with a 1m32.067s.
Most riders are out on new soft rear rubber.
14:04
First flurry of laps are in and Jack Miller leads the way with a 1m32.494s.
14:02
Marc Marquez has headed out on the updated Ducati chassis, so clearly it's something he is comfortable enough on to warrant a bit more of a test.
14:00
Green flag
No delays issued, so we are now underway for Practice.
13:58
Judging by the packed grandstands, you'd have thought it was the grand prix coming up in a couple of minutes - not a practice session.
This weekend's French GP is expected to smash attendance records for MotoGP.
13:53
The coming session will run for an hour, as usual, and will be a good indicator of race pace.
Conditions have improved a bit from this morning. It's up four degrees to 20C air temp and 29C track temp.
13:46
Practice build-up
Good afternoon and welcome back to our live coverage of the 2025 MotoGP French Grand Prix.
Practice is up next, provisionally at 2pm GMT. However, a brief red flag in the current Moto2 session may push that back five minutes.
12:02
News - LCR provides Zarco future update
Johann Zarco's MotoGP future remains a big talking point at his home grand prix.
He's made no secret of his desires to join the factory Honda squad, amid ongoing negotiations with LCR.
As far as Lucio Cecchinello is concerned, Zarco has everything at LCR the factory team has and sees "no point" in him moving away.
Read his full comments here
11:25
News - Ducati talks Le Mans updates
It was a strong start to the French GP weekend for Ducati, as Marc Marquez topped FP1 by almost 0.6s on an updated chassis.
Read what Davide Tardozzi, team manager, had to say about Ducati's updates here.
11:00
News - Aleix Espargaro set for Silverstone wildcard
HRC has already used up two of its six wildcards for the season, and will activate a third for the British Grand Prix at the end of May.
Aleix Espargaro, who wildcarded for Honda at Jerez and won the 2023 British GP, will be back in action at Silverstone.
10:56
FP1 report
Read the full FP1 report from the 2025 MotoGP French Grand Prix here
10:45
10:41
Marc Marquez dominates FP1
Marc Marquez leads FP1 by almost six tenths from Brad Binder, though the KTM rider fitted a fresh medium for his final run.
Alex Marquez was third, with Pecco Bagnaia fourth.
10:40
Chequered flag
Chequered flag is out and Marc Marquez improves again to a 1m30.764s on a 20-lap-old medium rear tyre.
