French MotoGP Qualifying Results | Bagnaia pole to spoil Quartararo homecoming

Ducati pair Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller silenced a vast partisan crowd by locking out a 1-2 in qualifying for the French MotoGP at Le Mans, while home hero Fabio Quartararo had to settle for fourth.

Ahead of his first MotoGP event on home soil since becoming World Champion in 2021, Quartararo had hoped to penetrate Ducati’s stronghold over a single lap following Enea Bastianini and then Johann Zarco’s lap records in FP2 and FP3.

However, despite raising the benchmark with the quickest time from the first wave of Q2 laps, Quartararo had no answer to Bagnaia’s stunning sprint to 1m 30.450secs, the Italian proving his return to form hasn’t been restricted to his win in Jerez.

Consolidating Ducati’s joy was Jack Miller, the Australian savvily shadowing Bagnaia to haul himself up to second position having not looked among the likely pole contenders coming into Q2.

Aleix Espargaro continued his stellar 2022 MotoGP form to cement his growing status as a genuine title contender on the Aprilia with third on the grid, the Spaniard’s late effort enough to unseat Quartararo down to fourth.

Enea Bastianini is well placed in fifth on the Gresini Ducati, ahead of Johann Zarco in sixth, though the Frenchman may find himself in hot water with the stewards after rolling out of a fast lap mid-corner and baulking a close-following Pol Espargaro, the Honda rider furious at being unable to improve on his 11th place.

Q1 survivor Joan Mir and his team-mate Alex Rins completed the third row for Suzuki, ahead another Q1 qualifier in Jorge Martin in ninth.

Forced onto his spare bike following a crash in FP4, Marc Marquez looked out of sorts as he laboured to tenth, leading a trio of Hondas in Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami.

With Martin and Mir swerving an upset by sealing two available Q2 spots from Q1, there was otherwise frustration for Marco Bezzecchi, who’d fall just 0.007s short of deposing his Suzuki rival in the final seconds.

Nevertheless, the Italian rookie once more out-qualified team-mate Luca Marini, the VR46 Ducati duo lining up 13th and 15th, split by the factory Aprilia of Maverick Vinales in 14th.

Fabio di Giannantonio enjoyed one of his best qualifying performances of his maiden MotoGP season in 16th, sitting ahead of the entire KTM fleet, with the Austrian firm enduring a shocker of an afternoon with Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder failing to progress in 17th and 18th, while Tech 3 languish in 22nd and 24th too.

Similarly, there was no breakthrough for Franco Morbidelli, the Italian’s struggles on the factory Yamaha M1 continuing down in 19th place, followd in 20th by stablemate and countryman Andrea Dovizioso.

Alex Marquez gets away from 21st, while Darryn Binder splits the Tech 3 KTMs in 23rd.

2022 French MotoGP | Le Mans | Qualifying RESULTS