Luca Marini tops FP1 in Le Mans, Ducati and Aprilia falter

Updated: 12:18, 08 May
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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.
PositionRider (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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Austrian Grand Prix
Overview
Upcoming race
Friday 26.06.26
Practice 1
Fri 11:30 AM
Practice 2
Fri 03:00 PM
Saturday 27.06.26
Practice 3
Sat 10:30 AM
Qualification
Sat 02:00 PM
Sunday 28.06.26
Race
Sun 01:00 PM

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