LE MANS: Italian Francesco Bagnaia produced a brilliant lap to edge out Marc Marquez for pole position at the French Grand Prix on Saturday, as MotoGP championship leader Marco Bezzecchi qualified third.
Bagnaia posted a time of one minute and 29.634 seconds to beat his Ducati teammate Marquez by 0.012 secs and secure his first pole since Malaysia last year.
Aprilia’s Bezzecchi completed the front row, just another 0.011 secs slower.
Bezzecchi’s run of five consecutive MotoGP wins was ended last month by Alex Marquez in Spain.
Two-time world champion Bagnaia has endured a tough start to the season, failing to finish two of the four races so far.
Reigning champion Marc Marquez has also crashed out twice this campaign and is 44 points behind Bezzecchi in fifth in the riders’ standings.
Jorge Martin, who is 11 points behind Bezzecchi in second place in the championship, could only qualify in eighth spot.