Andrew McLarneyMotoGP Reporter
Andrew McLarney is an accredited MotoGP reporter with four years experience as a professional writer across the sports and video game industries. His experience as a K1 Premier League competitor evolved into a fascination with all forms of combat sport and eventually motorsport — with MotoGP becoming his primary focus. On top of that he is also an avid follower of MXGP and AMA Supercross/Motocross.
The first practice session of the French GP weekend has concluded with some rather surprising results. HRC Honda's Luca Marini topped the morning session while both Aprilia and Ducati were both well off the pace set by the Italian.
The session, which is likely to be one of the only dry runs of the weekend as heavy rain is anticipated for tomorrow and Sunday, saw Honda secure two of the top three spots with Marini and Zarco, while Pedro Acosta finished in P2.
VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio was the top Ducati in P4, but the factory pair of Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia finished in P9 and P18 respectively.
Similarly, Aprilia were not up the standard we have come to expect from them so far this year. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi finished the session in P14 with Jorge Martin just 0.001 seconds behind.
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It is quite possible that both Aprilia and Ducati were running experimental setups during the session, knowing that the conditions for most of the weekend are set to be very different. So perhaps the times are not respesentative of what we will see throughout the weekend, but so far it is already off to an unpredictable start.
| Position | Rider (Team) | Time |
| 1. | Luca Marini (Honda HRC) | 1:30.857 |
| 2. | Pedro Acosta (KTM Factory Racing) | +0.208 |
| 3. | Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda) | +0.252 |
| 4. | Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46) | +0.268 |
| 5. | Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) | +0.367 |
| 6. | Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha) | +0.445 |
| 7. | Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing) | +0.470 |
| 8. | Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Racing) | +0.503 |
| 9. | Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) | +0.531 |
| 10. | Brad Binder (KTM Factory Racing) | +0.537 |
| 11. | Joan Mir (Honda HRC) | +0.539 |
| 12. | Enea Bastianini (KTM Tech3) | +0.591 |
| 13. | Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Racing) | +0.655 |
| 14. | Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) | +0.675 |
| 15. | Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) | +0.676 |
| 16. | Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) | +0.729 |
| 17. | Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) | +0.731 |
| 18. | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) | +0.809 |
| 19. | Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) | +0.976 |
| 20. | Franco Morbidelli (VR46) | +1.035 |
| 21. | Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) | +1.759 |
| 22. | Jones Folger (KTM Tech3) | +3.241 |
MotoGP 2026 French Grand Prix Full schedule: Where to watch, TV start times
The MotoGP Grand Prix of France is set to take place this weekend at the world-renowned Le Mans circuit and we should be in for another classic race as the battle heats up at the front between Aprilia and Ducati. Check out the full weekend schedule here.
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