MotoGP: Quartararo takes Le Mans pole as Mir misses Q2

Qualifying for round nine of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, the French Grand Prix, took place in Le Mans at the world famous Bugatti Circuit. The fastest rider coming into this session was the World Championship leader, Fabio Quartararo, who was over one tenth faster than Miguel Oliveira at the end of the three free practice sessions.

In Q1, Danilo Petrucci and Francesco Bagnaia denied championship contender Joan Mir the chance to participate in Q2, the Ducati pairing finishing Q1 in first and second, respectively. 

Q2 proved to be a slow burner. Coming into qualifying, Yamaha had just locked out the top four in FP4 and all of their riders were looking strong, but the addition of Petrucci and Bagnaia in Q2 meant there were five Ducatis looking to upset their party. 

In the first 12 minutes, everything seemed to be going well for Yamaha, with all of their riders in the front two rows ahead of the second runs, and only Francesco Bagnaia was posing a realistic threat for pole position. 

However, in the final minutes of the session, as well as the Yamahas and Bagnaia; Jack Miller, Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci and Cal Crutchlow all announce their challenge for pole position. 

Miller took it as the clock hit zero with a stunning lap, but Fabio Quartararo was able to respond with his final tour to take his third pole position of the season, his first since Jerez, by over 0.2 seconds. The Frenchman has been able to put himself in a perfect position to make some serious headway in the championship tomorrow, with his closest rival, Joan Mir, outside of the front four rows. 

Miller’s lap was good enough for second place. The #43, too, then, has a good chance tomorrow. The Ducati’s holeshot device and power, in comparison to those of the Yamaha, should prove superior off the line and, although it is a short run to the first turn, Miller could be in position to upset Quartararo’s rhythm tomorrow before it even gets going. 

Danilo Petrucci is in a similar position. The #9 has not looked this strong since he was fourth in the Sachsenring last season, but in Le Mans this weekend seems to have rediscovered a good feeling with the Ducati and made the most of it in qualifying to take his first top six result on a Saturday since Phillip Island and his first front row since he was third in Mugello last year. 

Cal Crutchlow was able to use Valentino Rossi as a marker on his fastest lap to take provisional pole position before eventually being shuffled back to fourth. It was a heroic effort from the #35 who is riding this weekend with continued damage in his right arm, which is still having problems with fluid build up as well as a new issue of the skin being stuck to the muscle around which the fascia was removed before Misano. Whether Crutchlow can keep the pace for the whole race remains to be seen, but his effort today cannot be denied.

Crutchlow will be joined on the second row by Maverick Vinales, who, at no point, has looked entirely comfortable this weekend, and Andrea Dovizioso who was in the running for pole for a period but ended up sixth. 

Francesco Bagnaia was shuffled back to seventh in the end, although that is significantly better than what might have been expected from the Italian after free practice where the issues of tyre warm up in Barcelona seemed to have re-emerged. The #63 will start alongside Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco on the third row tomorrow. 

The last two Yamahas of Valenino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli had ultimately disappointing sessions, and they will start from 10th and 11th, respectively tomorrow. The pace for the pair of them is good, although rewinding to Le Mans last year reveals how difficult it can be to pass a Ducati in Le Mans with Yamaha, as Rossi found out. Particularly for Morbidelli this is a problem, as the #21 still harbours somewhat limited hopes of fighting for the World Championship. 

Joining the two Italian-piloted Yamahas on that fourth row will be Miguel Oliveira, the #88 KTM rider lucky to even be able to qualify after fairly dramatic bike failure in FP4 that caused a red flag and a crash on his second bike almost immediately after the session resumed. The Portuguese will start from 12th.

Takaaki Nakagami was the fastest rider to miss out on Q2. The Japanese rider was fast on Friday but missed some pace when conditions improved on Saturday. Alongside the #30 on the grid tomorrow will be Joan Mir, who will have a lot of work to do from 14th to keep himself within touching distance of Fabio Quartararo, of whom coming into this weekend he the #36 is eight points adrift. Completing row five will be Aleix Espargaro. 

Row six will be fronted by Alex Rins, confirming Suzuki’s struggles. In fact, recent history points to difficulties in Le Mans for the GSX-RR: Rins finished 10th in France in 2018 and 2019, and last year Mir crashed four times in the race at the French track. The bikes from Hamamatsu have been strong late on in the races recently but they will need to maximise all 27 laps tomorrow to be able to salvage this weekend. 

Alongside Rins on row six will be Brad Binder, who suffered a crash at the end of Q1 which proved costly for many riders, including Mir and Rins, as they had to back off for the yellow flags. Binder has struggled all weekend to find rhythm and consistency, and his confidence will need rebuilding tomorrow in warm up before the race. 

Alex Marquez completes row six tomorrow; while Bradley Smith heads up row seven ahead of Iker Lecuona and Stefan Bradl in what might be the German’s final appearance of 2020 in place of Marc Marquez. Tito Rabat completes the grid, starting 22nd tomorrow as his future looks increasingly uncertain.