Bagnaia grabs pole for French MotoGP after Marquez sets lap record in Le Mans

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bagnaia-francesco/nahP9n9q/"]Bagnaia[/a] edged out his teammate with a time of ‌one minute 29.634 seconds in Q2, denying [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marquez-marc/UPhfij2b/"]Marquez[/a] what seemed ‌like a certain pole after the Spaniard had set the benchmark earlier ‌in the session.[/p][p][b]"I hope (things are starting to click), it's never ‌easy to say it after what was happening last year," [/b]Bagnaia said.[/p][p][b]"So keep calm, feet on the ground and work like we are doing... We found ‌something (in the setup) that is helping me, so ⁠we just need to continue ‌like this and try to maintain the same level."[/b][/p][p]Marquez's route to the front ​row was anything but straightforward after he failed to move directly into Q2 on Friday.[/p][p]The Spaniard was forced through ​the Q1 qualifying session in which he initially found himself pushed out of the top two and in danger of missing final qualifying ⁠altogether.[/p][embed guid="6ed4ba72-bda3-4aa7-b9a7-85dc4a17da11" url="https://x.com/MotoGP/status/2053046170897850690" social-type="twitter" /][p]But the Ducati rider's ​response was emphatic as he produced a scorching lap that shattered the circuit's lap record with a time of one minute 29.288 seconds.[/p][p]The effort was so blistering that Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi shook his ‌hand like he had touched something hot in the garage.[/p][p][b]"I'm in a moment that I don't understand many things, I need to understand the way I'm riding because it's true that I cannot be consistent,"[/b] Marquez said.[/p][p][b]"But when I have this extra adrenaline, I can do it because I know how to be fast on a bike."[/b][/p][embed guid="69d25585-4940-4fb7-a5cf-e1e50c138f81" url="https://x.com/MotoGP/status/2053038437440135510" social-type="twitter" /][p]Marquez and home favourite [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/quartararo-fabio/UsfVoiLM/"]Fabio Quartararo[/a] advanced from Q1 to Q2, where the Spaniard once again looked to have done enough before ‌Bagnaia's late intervention to claim his first pole of the season.[/p][p]The ​Ducati duo will be eager to convert their front-row lockout ‌into race success after both riders dominated the sprint in Jerez two weeks ago but failed to finish Sunday's race, won by Marquez's brother Alex.[/p][p]Aprilia's championship leader, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bezzecchi-marco/EXzAZEse/"]Marco Bezzecchi[/a], joins the two Ducatis on the front row in third, while VR46 Racing's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/di-giannantonio-fabio/pI4o388M/"]⁠Fabio Di Giannantonio[/a] claimed fourth. ⁠KTM's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/acosta-pedro/KrGeaHq5/"]Pedro Acosta[/a] and Yamaha's ‌Quartararo complete the second row.[/p]