2024 French Moto2 Grand Prix, Le Mans - Qualifying Results

Qualifying for round five, the Moto2 French Grand Prix, saw an incredible run against the odds bringing pole position to Aron Canet in Le Mans.

The Fantic Racing rider started the weekend either limping or on crutches in the pits, having found managing the aftermath of his Jerez crash hard. Pushing through the pain barrier he needed to go through Q1 after finishing practice in 16th, where he was just under 0.8s off the new record best. He rallied to move on, second in Q1.

The time on track helped the #44 perfect his lines, and with three minutes left the Spaniard moved from third to provisional pole, where he stayed with his lap of 1m 35.037s.

Already carrying a broken ankle, Canet was a late faller in the session, limping away again.
 

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Championship leader Joe Roberts picked up the pace and was lucky to miss all the late yellow flags to post a lap within 0.136s of Canet. It is the American Racing rider’s first front row start this season.

The final front row spot went to Sergio Garcia, who lead briefly, only to see that lap aboard his MT Helmets - MSI bike slip to fourth, returning to climb back to third just before the chequered flag to be the top Boscoscuro on the grid.

Having only just made it straight to Q2, Albert Arenas was fourth quickest and had a quiet, under the radar session for Gresini until after the flag, when Filip Salac crashed into the back of his bike as the duo were looking at the final timings on a track side screen.

The lap record had already been beaten on Friday, first by Alonso Lopez, then Sergio Garcia, with the P2 morning Moto2 session seeing Manuel Gonzalez take it to the first sub 1m 35 lap of the historic track for the class with a new best of 1m 34.868s.

They could not repeat the feat in qualifying with Lopez fifth fastest as the top Speed Up rider, ahead of Gonzalez in sixth on the second QJMotor Gresini entry.

Izan Guevara was boosted by his good run in Q1 and went on to take a much improved seventh, his best qualifying performance since moving up to Moto2 for Aspar.

Senna Agius held eighth on the Husqvarna after coming through Q1, only losing two places after his fall in the session.

Salac had secured ninth before his crash, with Tony Arbolino tenth.

The Elf Marc VDS rider, who won at Le Mans in 2023, came across an angry Barry Baltus on track early on, convinced he was wronged by Lopez slowing ahead for an in-lap. The RW rider was so busy remonstrating that he inadvertently did the same to Arbolino, who was on a lap with red sectors. That left him over seven seconds of the pace of the rest. 

Arbolino then had trouble restarting his bike in the pits before he eventually returned to the track and got to within 0.8s of the pole time.

Jake Dixon was just outside the top ten, his hopes dashed by a fall which sent gravel flying all around the corner he crashed at. He got his CFMoto Inde Aspar bike back, but the repairs needed were too big for the time remaining.

Yellow flag disaster for Aldeguer

Jerez pole man and race winner, Fermin Aldeguer, had the pace to run at the front, but a run of late laps has pushed his Folladore Speed Up back to eleventh. The MotoGP bound Spaniard had constant company from Baltus but was unfazed and regrouped for a final time attack.

That lap only pulled him up to tenth, but it hit yellow flags on track for Agius, so was cancelled. Initially Aldeguer was pushed back to 15th before more riders suffered the same fate, for an eventual twelfth.

Q1- van den Goorbergh bounces back

Zonta van den Goorbergh was knocked out of the final Q2 slot in P2 by his RW Idrofoglia Racing GP teammate, Barry Baltus. In Q1. Having come close it was no surprise to see the Netherlands rider move on with the top time, going on to qualify 15th.

Canet moved on with the second best time, ahead of rookie Senna Agius, who continued to impress in his first full season as the moved his Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact bike to the second session, joined by Izan Guevara in Q2 for Aspar.

Darryn Binder just missed out despite late improvement, so will line up 19th ahead of Jaume Masia, the best of the Moto3 graduate rookies, will line up 20th for the Gas Up team

Crashes, injuries and replacements

There was a further early fall at the start of Q2 for Marcos Ramirez (18th). There was no fall for Ai Ogura, but a technical issue saw him stopped near pit lane on his way to 17th.

Celestino Vietti arrived at Le Mans but was not declared fit to continue, so the Red Bull KTM Ajo team were a man down in France. Alex Escrig began practice but withdrew from the after affects of his injuries. Jorge Navarro (26th) was given the call overnight by the Klint Forward Factory Team and arrived in time for the Saturday sessions.

Bo Bendsneyder was announced not to be racing early, Daniel Munoz (24th) was brought in as his replacement at the Gas Up team. Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s  Mario Aji missed the round to recover from arm pump surgery but was not replaced.