LE MANS: Johann Zarco again shone at his home race setting the fastest time Friday in qualifying for the French MotoGP Grand Prix, as reigning world champion Marc Marquez finished 13th.

A year after winning at Le Mans in the rain, Zarco sparkled on a dry, sunny afternoon at the Bugatti circuit on his LCR Honda.

After finishing fourth fastest in free practice in the morning, the 35-year-old had the French fans on their feet as he led qualifying with a time of 1 minute 29.907 seconds, 0.010sec ahead of Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio on a Ducati VR46.

Another Italian Francesco Bagnaia was 0.138 back on a factory Ducati.

Spaniards Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini), Joan Mir (Ho­nda) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia) took fourth, fifth and sixth. Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), the World Champio­nship leader, Spaniard Alex Rins (Yamaha) Japanese rider Ai Ogura (Aprilia-Trackhouse) and another Spaniard and Pedro Acosta (KTM) rounded out the top ten, who advance directly to the 12-man shoot-out for the the places on the first four rows of the grid.

Marc Marquez, on a factory Ducati, was nearly half a second behind Zarco and will have to try to secure one of the top two spots in Saturday’s first qualifying session.

“It was a difficult day right from the start,” said Marquez. “It was tricky to get a good feel for the bike. Even though things were getting better and better on the bike, I didn’t manage to put in a very good lap.”

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2026