Le Mans MotoGP: Local hero Quartararo tops FP1

Quartararo, who had become MotoGP's youngest-ever poleman last time out at Jerez, was the only rider to dip below 1m32s in FP1, using a pair of fresh soft tyres to lead nearest rival Andrea Dovizioso by 0.127s.

Marc Marquez and Jack Miller were class of the field in the opening minutes, taking turns out front as they traded fastest laps, with a 1m32.540s from the Honda rider edging Miller by 0.011s at the conclusion of the opening run.

From there it was another 20 minutes until Marquez tucked in behind Quartararo to lower the benchmark by a tenth.

But KTM's Pol Espargaro was soon leaping up in the classification as he grabbed Miller's tow, and his final attempt behind the Aussie's Ducati took him to the top spot above Marquez.

Miller then slotted in behind Vinales and the pair took over out front with 10 minutes to go, the former heading the latter initially but then dropping out of the Yamaha man's slipstream.

Now alone on track, the Spaniard leapfrogged Miller with a 1m23.203s, before pitting at the end of the next lap despite having gone even faster in the first three sectors.

Dovizioso came within 0.006s of ousting Vinales with a minute left on the clock, only to have his laptime cancelled due to a track limits infringement.

He then jumped ahead of Vinales at the chequered flag, and kept the lap this time, but by then Quartararo had fired in a 1m31.986s.

Danilo Petrucci joined Ducati squadmate Dovizioso in the top three, demoting Vinales to fourth place.

Marquez, who along with Vinales did not run a soft rear tyre, was fifth, 0.004s up on Espargaro and 0.005s up on Miller, the latter completing a top seven split by just 0.252s.

Suzuki's Joan Mir was some four tenths slower than Miller in eighth place, with KTM's Johann Zarco and Yamaha's Valentino Rossi completing the top 10.

Mir was seven tenths up on his championship frontrunner teammate Alex Rins, who ended the session in a lowly 17th place.

Rossi, who led LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow and Quartararo's teammate Franco Morbidelli, had a mechanical failure mid-session when the chain came loose on his Yamaha and shot off across the track.

Under-pressure Honda rider Jorge Lorenzo took 14th, a tenth down on rookie Francesco Bagnaia. Lorenzo's session was compromised by an early crash at the Garage Vert double right-hander, as he fell after running wide onto the outside kerb.

Marquez made the same mistake at the same place later in the session, but used his knee to keep the bike upright and avoid a crash.

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	21	1'31.986
2	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	18	1'32.113	0.127
3	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	20	1'32.193	0.207
4	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	21	1'32.203	0.217
5	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	20	1'32.233	0.247
6	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	19	1'32.237	0.251
7	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	19	1'32.238	0.252
8	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	22	1'32.626	0.640
9	5	Johann Zarco	KTM	19	1'32.724	0.738
10	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	18	1'32.760	0.774
11	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	20	1'32.831	0.845
12	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	22	1'32.887	0.901
13	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	17	1'32.982	0.996
14	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	18	1'33.091	1.105
15	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	21	1'33.123	1.137
16	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	20	1'33.259	1.273
17	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	22	1'33.357	1.371
18	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	20	1'34.113	2.127
19	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	19	1'34.135	2.149
20	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	19	1'34.229	2.243
21	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	18	1'34.481	2.495
22	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	19	1'35.479	3.493
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