Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales bounced back to form in qualifying for the French Grand Prix on Saturday when he clocked the fastest time overall to take pole position ahead of his championship winning teammate, Valentino Rossi.
Vinales was a tenth faster than Rossi at the end of the session after a rather difficult free practice 3 where the Le Mans track was still quite damp. But thankfully, as the session went on, the track conditions improved and the young Spaniard walked away with the day's best time.
"Today worked out perfectly for the team. It‘s been a really challenging day, from FP3 until the very end of Q2, due to the condition of the track, which was constantly changing lap by lap, but all for the better,” said Yamaha's Massimo Meregalli. “All of today‘s sessions were really exciting. The new tarmac provides very good grip, which perfectly suits our bike and both our riders have done a great job to exploit this advantage to the fullest.”
“They have been fast and consistent in all the sessions and today‘s results give us a lot of confidence for tomorrow‘s race, but saying that, we still have some areas where we can improve. The tyre choice remains a question mark, because the conditions over the last two days haven‘t allowed us to complete a proper comparison amongst all the options. For this reason, the warm up will be extremely important. We will start the race from the best position on the grid, in first and second place, and today Zarco made it an all-Yamaha front row
Making it an all Yamaha front row was The 3 rider Johann Zarco who thrilled his home fans with a third placed finish.
Row two was taken by Cal Crutchlow, marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso while row four sees Scott Redding Pol Espargaro and Karel Abraham.
GP of FRANCE – Qualifying classification:
1. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'31.994
2. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'32.100 +0.106
3. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'32.229 +0.235
4. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - 1'32.300 +0.306
5. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - 1'32.493 +0.499
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 1'32.726 +0.732
7. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'33.119 +1.125
8. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'33.399 +1.405
9. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'33.517 +1.523
10. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'33.629 +1.635
11. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'33.756 +1.762
12. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing - Q1
13. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - Q1
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - Q1
15. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - Q1
16. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - Q1
17. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - Q1
18. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - Q1
19. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - Q1
20. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - Q1
21. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - Q1
22. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - Q1
23. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - Q1
