Maverick Vinales set the pace in Friday practice at Le Mans as he goes in search of a second consecutive victory at the French track. The Spanish teenager announced himself on the world stage with his superb maiden win 12 months ago and has been utterly dominant so far on his second visit.
The Avintia Blusens rider edged out Miguel Oliveira in the morning session, clocking a 1:45.437, and went over a second quicker in the afternoon, giving him a healthy cushion of 0.632s over Luis Salom, with Louis Rossi best placed of the home riders in third. Oliveira only trimmed three tenths off his morning time and slipped back to fourth overall.
Despite suffering his first retirement two weeks ago, Romano Fenati appeared totally unaffected as he set about learning another new track. The Italian sensation was fifth fastest just ahead of fellow rookie Alex Rins while Efren Vazquez, almost ten years their senior, took seventh.
Zulfahmi Khairuddin was the quickest factory KTM rider in eighth, one place ahead of Sandro Cortese who had a troubled afternoon. The championship leader was third quickest in the morning but suffered a mechanical failure in FP2, preventing him from improving on his earlier effort.
Teammate Danny Kent was eleventh while Danny Webb impressed on board the Mahindra, finishing the day in eighteenth. Marcel Schrotter had a miserable time on the other MGP30 and only completed two laps in the afternoon, leaving him at the bottom of the timesheets.
Moto3 Monster Energy Grand Prix de France: Combined Friday Practice Times
Pos | Rider | Motorcycle | Team | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | Blusens Avintia | 1:44.141 |
2 | ![]() |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +0.632 |
3 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | Racing Team Germany | +0.786 |
4 | ![]() |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +1.044 |
5 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +1.061 |
6 | ![]() |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +1.254 |
7 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | JHK T-Shirt Laglisse | +1.391 |
8 | ![]() |
KTM | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | +1.457 |
9 | ![]() |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +1.510 |
10 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta | +1.636 |
11 | ![]() |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +1.748 |
12 | ![]() |
Honda | Caretta Technology | +1.899 |
13 | ![]() |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +2.148 |
14 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | San Carlo Gresini Moto3 | +2.313 |
15 | ![]() |
Kalex KTM | Bankia Aspar Team | +2.322 |
16 | ![]() |
Honda | Caretta Technology | +2.479 |
17 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +2.486 |
18 | ![]() |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +2.634 |
19 | ![]() |
Kalex KTM | Bankia Aspar Team | +2.762 |
20 | ![]() |
KTM | TT Motion Events Racing | +3.023 |
21 | ![]() |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +3.087 |
22 | ![]() |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +3.134 |
23 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | Ongetta-Centro Seta | +3.383 |
24 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | AndalucÃa JHK Laglisse | +3.412 |
25 | ![]() |
FTR Honda | JHK T-Shirt Laglisse | +3.460 |
26 | ![]() |
Ioda | IodaRacing Project | +3.612 |
27 | ![]() |
Honda | Thomas Sabo GP Team | +4.281 |
28 | ![]() |
MZ-RE FTR | Cresto Guide MZ Racing | +4.294 |
29 | ![]() |
Oral | Ambrogio Next Racing | +4.406 |
30 | ![]() |
FGR Honda | Moto FGR | +4.419 |
31 | ![]() |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +4.497 |
32 | ![]() |
Oral | Ambrogio Next Racing | +5.630 |
33 | ![]() |
Ioda | Ioda Team Italia | +6.035 |
34 | ![]() |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +6.272 |