10:39
Marc Marquez has improved to a 1m31.000s on that new chassis.
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
10:36
Marc Marquez is currently out on the new chassis he has.
10:35
Crash - Alex Rins
Alex Rins has gone down at Turn 3.
10:31
Encouraging start to the weekend for Bagnaia. Typically when we see him up at the sharp end from the off on a Friday he means business.
10:31
Standings with 10 minutes to go
- M.Marquez
- Bagnaia
- A.Marquez
- Quartararo
- Zarco
- Aldeguer
- Vinales
- Mir
- Binder
- Morbidelli
- Bezzecchi
- Miller
- Rins
- Acosta
- Ogura
- Di Giannantonio
- Nakagami
- Bastianini
- Marini
- Fernandez
- Savadori
- Oliveira
10:27
Marquez is back in the pits - possibly a short run on the different chassis he has?
10:25
That lap was done on a well used medium tyre. So, that's already encouraging pace from the Spaniard.
10:24
Marc Marquez improves to a 1m31.099s.
10:22
Morbidelli went down at Turn 8 but he's fine.
10:21
Crash - Franco Morbidelli
Franco Morbidelli has gone down.
10:15
Marc Marquez has come back out. He looks to have a different chassis on one of his bikes the other factory Ducatis don't have.
10:15
Yamaha has a new engine at Le Mans after a successful test of it at Jerez. All four Yamahas appear to be on it, as well as a new chassis.
10:14
Bit of intrigue at KTM. Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder are on the same spec of bike as Maverick Vinales.
Acosta at Jerez had reverted to the 2024 package to try and refind his feeling under braking.
10:11
Pretty much everyone is back in pitlane.
10:11
Standings after 15 minutes
- M.Marquez
- Bagnaia
- A.Marquez
- Vinales
- Morbidelli
- Binder
- Bezzecchi
- Quartararo
- Aldeguer
- Di Giannantonio
- Marini
- Nakagami
- Bastianini
- Zarco
- Rins
- Miller
- Mir
- Ogura
- Acosta
- Savadori
- Oliveira
- Fernandez
10:08
It's now a factory Ducati 1-2 with just over half an hour to go as Pecco Bagnaia jumps up to second.
10:08
But not for long, as Marc Marquez fires in a 1m31.263s. Given the struggles he had on the Ducati on Friday last year, Marquez looks like he's already dialled in.
He said yesterday he had a few things from the Jerez test to retry today. At this early stage at least, whatever they tested appears to be working.
10:06
Alex Marquez back up to top spot on his GP24 with a 1m31.588s.
10:05
Four manufacturers inside the top five after 10 minutes at Le Mans. Let's not get too excited, but this could be a highly competitive weekend.
10:04
Marc Marquez has opened things up a bit now with a 1m31.756s. That's put him almost 0.4s clear of the field.
10:03
And as I hit send, Alex Marquez is now up to second.
10:03
Lots of chopping and changing in the early part of this session. Bezzecchi has improved to a 1m32.190s from Marc Marquez, Franco Morbidelli, Pecco Bagnaia and Quartararo.
10:01
Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi is now top with a 1m32.899s.
Lap record, for reference, is 1m29.919s.
10:00
Yellow flags have been withdrawn, so that small bike fire on the Trackhouse Aprilia wasn't too serious.
Quartararo leads with a 1m34.550s right now.
09:59
Fernandez is running back to pitlane now, but that's a nightmare start for a rider under a lot of pressure. He felt after the Jerez test he'd found something to improve his form.
