2024 French MotoGP, Le Mans - Friday Practice Results

* Rookie

Title leader Jorge Martin completes a Friday practice double for the French MotoGP at a sunny Le Mans, while Marc Marquez and Brad Binder miss the top ten and will take part in Qualifying 1.

But their loss was home star Fabio Quartararo’s gain, with the Yamaha rider snatching direct Qualifying 2 access - much to the delight of the fans.

Morning pace setter Martin was already back on top when new tyre time attacks began in the final 20 minutes of the afternoon hour.

Fabio di Giannantonio - fastest at the Jerez test - then shot almost half-a-second clear of the field as the last ten minutes approached.

But Martin was back on top by the closing stages, eventually finishing 0.145s ahead of reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia, with rookie Pedro Acosta a strong third for the home Tech3 team.

Maverick Vinales helped put Aprilia’s miserable Jerez weekend behind him with fourth, ahead of di Giannantonio, KTM’s Jack Miller and the second factory RS-GP of Aleix Espargaro.

Marc Marquez fell in the opening minutes of the hour, a lowside at Turn 12, and was in the Qualifying 1 danger zone as the final minutes began.

A big tank slapper saw Marquez drop to 15^th before inching up to 12^th. The eight-time world champion crossed the line with seconds to spare for a final lap, and set a red first sector… only to run wide, confirming his first Q1 appearance as a Ducati rider.

Joining Marquez will be KTM’s Binder, who suffered his second and then third accidents of the day at the tight final right-handers.

2022 winner Enea Bastianini also crashed late on, while Franco Morbidelli kept control during a highspeed trip through the turn one gravel.

* Rookie

Jorge Martin responds perfectly to his Jerez error by leading opening practice for the 2024 French MotoGP at Le Mans, ahead of rookie Pedro Acosta and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.

Fresh from a thrilling victory battle with Francesco Bagnaia at Jerez, Marc Marquez was fastest for the first half of the 45-minute session.

2022 Le Mans winner Enea Bastianini - whose factory bike Marquez is increasingly tipped to take over next season - moved ahead before Acosta delighted Tech3’s home fans by putting his GASGAS machine quickest inside the final ten minutes.

The Spanish teenager swiftly responded when reigning champion and Jerez winner Francesco Bagnaia and Bastianini moved back ahead.

But Acosta, who saved a front-end scare, couldn’t resist the pace of title leader Jorge Martin after fitting new rubber, the Pramac rider breaking 0.237s clear in the closing minutes.

Other riders joining Martin on new rubber at the end were: Vinales, Alex Marquez, Aleix Espargaro, Alex Rins, Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira.

Brad Binder crashed out in the final minute, leaving his KTM substantially damaged.

Yellow flags for that incident cost Alex Marquez his best lap, but he still finished three places ahead of brother Marc, who stuck with old rubber and looked to be trying a different set-up on one of his Gresini machines.

Last year’s Le Mans winner Marco Bezzecchi was at the sharp end of the timesheets early on before finishing tenth for VR46.

Rins was the leading Yamaha in 13th, with home star Johann Zarco the top Honda in 16th.

Rins' team-mate Fabio Quartararo was again trying the longer Yamaha exhaust on his way to 20th at the start of his home round. The former world champion also has a new chassis from the Jerez test available.