MOTOGP: QUARTARARO PIPS MILLER IN FRANCE
MotoGP: Fabio Quartararo pips Jack Miller in France – Photo: LAT
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo pipped Jack Miller for pole position this weekend’s French MotoGP at Le Mans.
By RHYS VANDERSYDE
The Australian Ducati rider, who was the pacesetter of Friday, bounced back from a nasty high-side in FP3 to jump to the top of the timesheets with a 1:31.537s just before the chequered flag. However, a last-ditch effort was enough to put the Petronas SRT Yamaha on pole position with a 1:31.315s.
Qualifying was initially delayed to allow officials to clean up oil after Miguel Oliveira’s Tech 3 KTM expiring during FP4.
Once the session eventually got underway it was the Yamaha’s who were the early pace setters, with Franco Morbidelli fastest.
The timesheets remained somewhat static until the final minute of qualifying, which really mixed up the order.
Cal Crutchlow (Castrol LCR Honda) was the first to show his hand, jumping up the order with a 1:31.686s, triggering a string of fast times.
Miller was next fire up the order, moving up to provisional pole from 10th with his fastest lap, just ahead of Quartararo and Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci at the time.
Quartararo fired back on the run to the flag to better Miller by 0.222s to claim his first pole position since the Andalusian GP in July.
Crutchlow’s fastest time was enough for him to secure a second row start ahead of Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha), and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati).
Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati), Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM), Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Ducati), Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha) rounded out the top ten at the end of Q2.
Suzuki’s Joan Mir was the surprise of qualifying, failing to make it to Q2 for the first time this year. The main title rival to Quartararo will have his work cut out for him starting from 14th.
Race start is Sunday at 22:00 AEDT, with 27 laps the distance.
The race is scheduled to commence tonight at 10.00pm AEDT and can be viewed live on Fox Sports 507.
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