Le Mans came alive on Saturday morning as Fabio Quartararo sent the home crowd into raptures, grabbing a stunning pole position at the French Grand Prix.
In a qualifying session full of drama, crashes, and comebacks, the Yamaha rider beat both Marc and Alex Marquez to secure his first pole since 2022.
The final minutes of Q2 were pure chaos. Fermin Aldeguer looked like the surprise of the day when he jumped to second, only to crash moments later – joined in the gravel by Johann Zarco in a separate incident.
But Quartararo, under pressure and with the French fans behind him, delivered a perfect final lap of 1:29.324, snatching pole from Marc Marquez by just 0.118s.
Marc had earlier shattered the lap record on his third tour with a breathtaking 1:29.442. It looked unbeatable until Quartararo’s last push.
Alex Marquez added more Gresini joy by sealing third, nudging rookie sensation Aldeguer down to fourth after a sensational showing by the Moto2 graduate.
Just as @Aldeguer54 jumped to P2, he crashes at Turn 3 🫢#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/QY2jHJX557
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 10, 2025
Bagnaia, who struggled to find rhythm early on and sat as low as 11th during his first run, could only recover to sixth.
The Ducati star’s best time was a 1:30.047, nearly three-quarters of a second off pole. He’ll start behind Maverick Viñales, who put his KTM Tech3 into fifth.
Behind the front two rows, Marco Bezzecchi led a tight group with Jack Miller, Franco Morbidelli, and Raul Fernandez all within a tenth of each other.
Fernandez made it through Q1 with an impressive effort – his first Q2 appearance of the season.
Further down the order, Johann Zarco’s Q2 ended in the gravel after an earlier ride height issue on his Honda.
Pedro Acosta, another expected threat, was a muted 12th, unable to improve in the closing stages.
Earlier in Q1, it was Zarco and Fernandez who emerged from the “jungle,” edging out Brad Binder and a visibly frustrated Fabio di Giannantonio. The Italian will start from 17th – a bitter pill considering he’s on a 2025-spec Ducati.
The session was briefly red-flagged after a crash for Ai Ogura, whose bike took too long to be cleared.
But the day- and the moment – belonged to Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman not having been this close to the front on home soil in a long time, he delivered when it mattered most.
