10.05.2025
MotoGP 2025 - Round 06 of 22, Le Mans, France – Qualification and Sprint
- Maverick Viñales bags his second batch of Sprint points in a row and his best Saturday classification of the season
- Pedro Acosta makes a superb start to lunge into the top six and battles with his brand-mate for almost the entire race distance. Only a slow crash in the final section halted his progress
- Enea Bastianini launches from 18th to collect 13th in the Sprint in an eventful race as Brad Binder slides out of the Viñales/Acosta dispute on lap four
- Valentin Perrone registers his best Moto3™ qualifying position with 7th, and championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda is less than a tenth of a second behind in 8th
MotoGP continued to stage a show in front of a large, loud and appreciative trackside audience with round six of the series rounding the historic curves of the Le Mans Bugatti circuit. After a capacity event at Jerez in Spain two weeks ago, the French Grand Prix introduced another fence-busting date to the schedule. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 teams adapted to the 14 corners and 4.1km course on Friday and helped guide two of their four riders – Viñales and Acosta – straight through to Q2 on Saturday. Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini had to enter Q1 but had promising speed for the layout that mixes hard-braking and accelerating points with several fast sections like Dunlop Curve, La Chapelle and Le Musee.
Binder almost emerged from the Q1 dash on Saturday morning. He was within one hundredth of a second from slotting three KTM RC16s into Q2. The South African ended qualifying in 13th and five positions in front of Bastianini who ranked 18th: a repeat of their grid berths from Jerez. Q2 saw Viñales skirting the limits to find the 5th best lap and occupy the center of the second row. Acosta confirmed P12.
Viñales was into the jostle for top six during the first phase of the 13-lap Sprint and was immediately joined by Acosta and Binder after electric starts by the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo. The three KTM RC16s circulated together, with Bastianini nearing the top ten, until Binder crashed on lap four entering Chemin Aus Boeufes. Viñales and Acosta then dueled for the top five until the younger Spaniard made a mistake on the final lap into the tight Garage Bleu section and had to remount to make the line in 19th. Maverick gathered five points for the top five and Red Bull KTM Tech3 teammate Bastianini was 13th after a hectic Sprint in which he had to drop two positions and then also lost more ground in the final two laps.
The French Grand Prix starts at the regular CET time of 14.00 on Sunday and will tear-up Le Mans for 27 laps.
Maverick Viñales, 5th in qualification, 5th in the Sprint: “It was good to race Pedro, and we need data from my side to improve. We could fight and see where each other was stronger. I tried many times to pass him at the end and just went into corners 9/10 a bit hot. It is very hard to pass a KTM! We brake very late and we accelerate hard. It was a cool fight, and the rhythm was very promising for tomorrow. I started to feel on-point with three laps to go. I need to be stronger in the first lap tomorrow and we need to adjust the engine braking a little for the first laps because the grip is different from the tire. The Sprint was good preparation.”
Enea Bastianini, 18th in qualification, 13th in the Sprint: “A difficult Sprint because, like always this year, I had to start behind but this time I came back well. I tried to pass Jack [Miller] and he closed the line and we both went out, so that meant I had to drop positions for my mistake. The same happened again later! It was possible to make a good result today and I missed Q2 for two mistakes at the end of the lap. We have potential.”
Pedro Acosta, 12th in qualification, 19th in the Sprint: “I think we need to focus on the small positive things and today the pace was good, the start was good and the competitiveness in the race was good. I always look to the results but I think it was a super-good Sprint race to come back from a qualifying that was quite difficult. I was fine in FP2 with good pace and rhythm but then qualifying was different and I’m not sure why. I was also a bit unlucky because from three attempts at a fast lap I had yellow flags for two, and lost the front a bit in the third. Maverick is making the difference in qualifying and we need to understand how. Anyway, good day. I’m happy.”
Brad Binder, 13th in qualification, DNF in the Sprint: “Honestly, today wasn’t too bad. Apart from just missing out on Q2 and flicking myself out of the race my feeling on the bike is pretty good, and I can push. It was a very weird crash and unfortunate because I felt good up until that point and ready for the fight. I had the potential to go with Maverick and Pedro and we’ll have another try tomorrow. I’m confident we can do a good job: my bike is a rocket off the line.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Well, despite the crashes for Pedro and Brad today we can take more positives from this Grand Prix so far, as we have found from each round and from what has been a challenging start to the season. Obviously, we want all our riders to finish the race but we are keeping the spirit and the motivation and the way to work in good shape and I think this will feed into the Grand Prix tomorrow. Maverick was again our lead performer here today but it was good to see three of our bikes there together and there was a nice battle together with Pedro. Tomorrow we have a good chance for a solid and strong appearance here.”
Grand Prix of France photographs can be found HERE
Results Qualifying MotoGP Grand Prix of France
1. Fabio Quartararo (FRA) Yamaha 1:29.324
2. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.118
3. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.247
5. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.699
12. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +1.138
13. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:30.441 (Q1)
18. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 1:30.697 (Q1)
Results MotoGP Sprint Grand Prix of France
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 19:49.022
2. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.530
3. Fermin Aldeguer (ESP) Ducati +2.164
5. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +5.285
13. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +12.540
19. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +28.342
DNF. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
KTM GP Academy
Red Bull KTM Ajo and Red Bull KTM Tech3 pushed their riders into a closeknit group on Friday: all four were within half a second of the provisional pole position lap-time as the cloudy but sunny spells varied the track temperatures in the afternoon. In Jerez two weeks ago Jose Antonio Rueda and Alvaro Carpe had to deal with home Grand Prix pressure and in Le Mans the onus fell more on Jacob Roulstone and Valentin Perrone as representatives of the native Red Bull KTM Tech3 squad. The Australian gave cause for optimism by coming through Q1 but then a crash limited his potential for Q2. Perrone was the standout from the crop of talent on the KTM RC4 and rode to the 7th best lap for the third row of the grid. It was the rookie’s best qualifier of his maiden term. Rueda was 8th and just three hundredths of a second slower. Carpe lodged P13 – only 0.7 from Pole – and Roulstone will start Sunday’s race from P18.
The domain of Moto2 brought Deniz Öncü and Collin Veijer into play for Red Bull KTM Ajo. The Turk was eager and precise on Saturday and set the fastest lap in Free Practice 2 in the morning while the Dutch rookie had to adjust once more to the braking demands of Le Mans and was less than a second away from P1. Temperatures crept up for Q2 and Öncü needed 0.6 more from his best effort to consider Pole Position: he settled for 13th and with strong possibilities to be in podium contention for Sunday and the 22 laps to come. Veijer was 19th.
Results Qualifying Moto3 Grand Prix of France
1. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team 1:39.947
2. Gino Pini (ITA) KTM +0.089
3. Joel Kelso (AUS) KTM +0.098
7. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.496
8. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.530
13. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.722
15. Dennis Foggia (ITA) CFMOTO Aspar Team +0.816
18. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3 +1.416
Results Qualifying Moto2 Grand Prix of France
1. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP) 1:34.315
2. Barry Baltus (BEL) +0.327
3. Diogo Moreira (BRA) +0.339
12. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team +0.621
13. Deniz Öncü (TUR) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.668
19. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo 1:35.218
21. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team 1:35.374
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Evangelia Sissis
PR Manager MotoGP
+43 676 665 2742
evangelia.sissis@ktm.com