Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli started their Grand Prix de France campaigns at the Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit today. The teammates used all the available track time of FP1 and FP2 to try their YZR-M1s' dry set-up options ahead of what is predicted to be a changeable weekend. They ended in 6th and 12th place respectively in the combined results.
Quartararo had an extra spring in his step this morning at the start of his home GP. For most of the sunny but somewhat chilly morning session he was featuring inside the top 5 whilst working on his bike‘s race set-up. He set a 1‘31.912s on lap 20/23 to finish FP1 in fourth place, 0.141s from the front.
The home hero was also in his element in FP2 and worked on fine-tuning his work from the morning. The usual mini time attack started with eight minutes left on the clock. He hit a lot of traffic during his final run, but remained firmly positioned inside the top 10. His best time of 1‘31.640s, set on lap 6/21, put him in sixth place in the FP2 and the combined timesheets, 0.492s from the top.
Morbidelli didn‘t have the start to the French GP he had hoped for. A crash in Turn 11 midway through FP1 lost him some track time. However, thankfully the Italian was quickly back on his feet and headed back to the garage. He improved his time to a 1‘32.937s on lap 20/21, which put him in 20th place, 1.166s from first.
Morbido wanted to optimise his chances for a place in Q2 in the afternoon and made a big step. The number-21 rider spent most of the FP2 session tweaking his bike‘s settings in order to challenge for a top-10 position in the final five minutes of the session. A late crash in Turn 10 meant he wasn‘t able finish his last hot lap. He was again uninjured and ended FP2 in 11th place with a 1‘32.025s, set on lap 19/19. The time earned him 12th position in the combined free practice rankings, 0.877s from P1.
