Maverick Viñales completes the podium
MADRID, 11 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Spanish rider Jorge Martín (Ducati) completed the perfect Saturday in Le Mans with pole position and victory in the MotoGP sprint race of the French Grand Prix, the fifth round of the motorcycle World Championship, while Marc Márquez (Ducati), who came back from thirteenth place, and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) completed the podium of the day.
After achieving pole, the Madrid native did not waste his privileged position and dominated from start to finish on the French track, where also his main rival for the title, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), had to retire after a few laps due to a breakdown on his motorcycle.
Meanwhile, Márquez starred in the great comeback of the day; He had to go through Q1 and was not able to advance to Q2, placing himself in thirteenth starting place. As soon as the traffic lights went out, he climbed up to sixth place and, little by little, he climbed positions until he was third.
The fall of the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) when he was running second allowed the man from Cervera to rise to second position, something that Maverick Viñales also took advantage of, finally third at the finish line.
With this result, Martín consolidates his lead with 104 points, compared to the 76 of Enea Bastianini (Ducati) who is now second overall ahead of ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, with 75. Meanwhile, the Spanish Pedro Acosta (KTM), sixth this Saturday, he is fourth in the championship with 73.
In addition, Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) finished fifth, ahead of the Murcian, while Raúl Fernández (Aprilia) also entered the ‘Top 10’, ninth. Alex Márquez (Ducati) finished fourteenth and Augusto Fernández (KTM), seventeenth.
MARTIN SIGNS A RECORD POLE IN ANTE BAGNAIA
In the morning, Martín signed his second pole of the course ahead of Bagnaia and Viñales after a session in which he suffered a fall, just like his main rival for the title, who even had to take out the fire extinguisher to put out an outbreak of fire. and save the engine of his ‘Desmosedici’.
“I imagined that to get the pole I had to do 1:29. I felt good, I knew that the second lap was the good one. Let’s see if this afternoon we can get a good start, ‘Pecco’ and I have the pace to make a fast race,” Martín explained to DAZN after the qualifying session.
The first starting line was completed by Maverick Viñales. Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), who also finished in the gravel, will start sixth, while Pedro Acosta (KTM) will start seventh.
After clocking a 1:30.141 on his first lap that put him at the head of the time table, Martín improved his bet to become the first man of the weekend to go under 1:30 (1:29.919), with a record of track. Meanwhile, Bagnaia was less than two tenths behind.
The one from San Sebastián de los Reyes crashed in turn 4 with just over two minutes left in the session, and just a few seconds later, in turn 9, it was ‘Pecco’ who ended up in the gravel. and he was left with no options to beat the Spaniard’s time. Q2 ended with more falls involving Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) and the Australian Jack Miller (KTM).
Among those who stayed in Q1, Marc Márquez (Ducati) will start thirteenth in Le Mans, after being displaced from access positions to Q2 at the last moment by the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia), who managed to sneak in alongside the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati).
In addition, Raúl Fernández (Aprilia) will start fourteenth, Alex Rins (Yamaha) will start sixteenth, just ahead of Alex Márquez (Ducati) and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda), seventeenth and eighteenth respectively. Augusto Fernández (KTM) will start twentieth.
2024-05-11 09:48:53
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