2022 MotoGP French GP: Qualifying results and starting grid

Italian rider Bagnaia blitzed the Circuit Bugatti lap record in the pole shootout on Saturday, lapping the track in 1m30.450s to secure the fifth pole for a Ducati rider in seven qualifying sessions in 2022.

Jack Miller backed up the performance of Bagnaia to grab second spot on the grid, setting a time that was just 0.069s slower than his team-mate.

Aleix Espargaro continued his strong run in France, securing a spot on the front row for the third consecutive race weekend with a time of 1m30.609s on the Aprilia.

Reigning MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo traded lap times with Bagnaia early on in the session, briefly claiming provisional pole with a 1m30.688s flier.

However, the French rider couldn’t keep up with Bagnaia’s pace in the second part of qualifying and eventually slipped to fourth on the grid, missing out a spot on the front row by 0.089s.

Enea Bastianini produced a solid laptime of 1m30.711s to claim fifth for the Gresini Ducati team, beating the top Pramac Ducati bike of FP3 pacesetter Johann Zarco.

Joan Mir will head up the third row of the grid after successfully progressing to the second leg of qualifying from Q1, with Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins and Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin - who also had to go through Q1 - starting alongside him in eighth and ninth respectively.

Jack Miller backed up his team-mate well with second

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marc Marquez could do no better than 10th after making a mistake on his flying lap on his second bike, having damaged his primary machine with a crash in final practice.

However, he still ended up as the top Honda of the grid, with factory team-mate Pol Espargaro ending up just behind him in 11th, and Takaaki Nakagami managing only 12th on the LCR-run bike.

Several leading names were eliminated in Q1 and will have to start the race from the lower half of the grid, with Maverick Vinales set to line up 14th on the Aprilia and Franco Morbidelli starting further down in 19th on the second of the two factory Yamahas.

KTM riders will also have a mountain to climb in the race, with factory duo Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder starting only 17th and 18th respectively.

The 2022 MotoGP French GP will get underway at 2pm local time (1pm BST) on Sunday.

2022 French Grand Prix – Q2 results:

Cla	Rider		Bike	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	9	1'30.450
2	Jack Miller		Ducati	9	1'30.519	0.069	0.069
3	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	8	1'30.609	0.159	0.090
4	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	8	1'30.688	0.238	0.079
5	Enea Bastianini		Ducati	9	1'30.711	0.261	0.023
6	Johann Zarco		Ducati	8	1'30.863	0.413	0.152
7	Joan Mir		Suzuki	7	1'30.943	0.493	0.080
8	Alex Rins		Suzuki	8	1'30.977	0.527	0.034
9	Jorge Martin		Ducati	7	1'31.068	0.618	0.091
10	Marc Marquez		Honda	7	1'31.148	0.698	0.080
11	Pol Espargaro		Honda	8	1'31.526	1.076	0.378
12	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	9	1'31.595	1.145	0.069
View full results

2022 French Grand Prix – Q1 results:

Cla	Rider		Bike	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Jorge Martin		Ducati	8	1'30.804
2	Joan Mir		Suzuki	9	1'30.933	0.129	0.129
3	Marco Bezzecchi		Ducati	8	1'30.940	0.136	0.007
4	Maverick Viñales		Aprilia	8	1'31.271	0.467	0.331
5	Luca Marini		Ducati	9	1'31.363	0.559	0.092
6	Fabio Di Giannantonio		Ducati	8	1'31.487	0.683	0.124
7	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	8	1'31.547	0.743	0.060
8	Brad Binder		KTM	8	1'31.610	0.806	0.063
9	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	9	1'31.617	0.813	0.007
10	Andrea Dovizioso		Yamaha	9	1'31.618	0.814	0.001
11	Alex Marquez		Honda	9	1'31.763	0.959	0.145
12	Remy Gardner		KTM	8	1'31.820	1.016	0.057
13	Darryn Binder		Yamaha	7	1'32.596	1.792	0.776
14	Raúl Fernández		KTM	8	1'32.767	1.963	0.171
View full results