Zarco bolts to home round pole with lap record

Full MotoGP qualifying results from Le Mans

Johann Zarco has obliterated the lap record at Le Mans to record pole position at his home round ahead of MotoGP world championship leader Marc Marquez.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider ended up dominating the pole position shootout in Q2 having topped the first runs ahead of Danilo Petrucci before the lap times lit up in an enthralling session.

Marquez grabbed provisional pole with his first lap on the final run with a 1m 31.315s but was powerless to resist Zarco’s effort of 1m 31.185s which hands the French rider pole at home, his second of the year after Qatar, along with the lap record around the Bugatti circuit.

Repsol Honda’s Marquez looked to respond on his second flying lap but lost a quarter of a second in the second sector, only to peg the gap back to less than one-tenth in the third sector, but couldn’t find an edge to surpass Zarco’s effort – much to the delight of the home crowd.

Petrucci, who had to graduate through Q1 after missing out on the top 10 after FP3, will complete the front row for Pramac Ducati, while Andrea Iannone maintained his momentum from back-to-back podiums for Suzuki to qualify in fourth place.

Andrea Dovizioso, fresh from signing a new Ducati deal, narrowly edged out factory teammate Jorge Lorenzo to take fifth place in qualifying while Jack Miller saw four Ducatis inside the top seven by taking the front spot on the third row.

Despite encouraging performances during free practice at Le Mans, Movistar Yamaha continued to lose out to its front-running rivals with Maverick Vinales, pole-sitter from 12 months ago, only managing eighth and just ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi in ninth.

Dani Pedrosa, the second Q1 graduate, has qualified in 10^th place nursing an injury from his Jerez fall with Tito Rabat and Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro completing the fourth row.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow suffered a nasty high-side fall at Turn in Q1 which saw the red flag come out so the British rider could be received medical attention. Crutchlow’s team has confirmed he’s been taken to hospital at Le Mans for checks but is reported as okay.