French Grand Prix: Marc Marquez denied dream return as Francesco Bagnaia snatches pole at the death

MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) denied the returning Marc Marquez (Honda) at the death to take his second pole position of the 2023 season at the French Grand Prix. The Italian, who leads the Riders’ Championship standings by 22 points after four races, left it late to set the fastest time in a Q2 session that also saw Aleix Espargaro suffer a nasty crash.

Ad “It wasn’t easy, also for the problems we had yesterday with the bike, this morning too,” Bagnaia said. “But everything went well.

Grand Prix ArgentinaHonda appeal Marquez penalty change, say rights 'violated'29/03/2023 AT 17:08 «We started having the same feeling as always, and I’m very happy. I was expecting to go 1:31 and 1:30.7 is a really great lap time.” Six-time world champion Marquez was competing in his first qualifying session since breaking his thumb in a collision with Miguel Oliveira in the season opener in Portimao, and he was a whisker away from a dream return.

Marquez took provisional pole with 26 seconds remaining in the session, but he was soon bumped down to second by Bagnaia, who clocked a time of 1:30.705 with his final run, 0.058 seconds ahead of the Spaniard. Miller tops timesheets as Marquez crashes in both practices on return 'Talk bull****, next race it can happen to you' — Marquez appears to hit back at Espargaro Marquez will have to pick between ‘very high’ Honda offer or ‘fairly low’ at Ducati – Lorenzo Luca Marini (Mooney VR46) came through Q1 to take third place and earn a place on the front row, 0.137 seconds off Bagnaia’s pace.