MotoGP Le Mans: Jorge Lorenzo takes first French GP pole position

While the three-time world champion has won the French GP on four occasions, including in 2015, he had never started from pole in the premier class.

He changed that on Saturday afternoon, setting the fastest MotoGP lap recorded at the circuit, a 1m31.975s.

Lorenzo set the early pace with a 1m32.437s on his opening lap, then improved again to 1m32.236s later on his first run.

In the dying minutes, he went faster again with his 1m31.975s to take his 37th MotoGP pole.

His Yamaha team-mate and Jerez winner Valentino Rossi could only manage seventh on the grid, 0.854 seconds behind Lorenzo.

Honda's Marc Marquez jumped up from seventh to second on his final lap to finish the session as Lorenzo's closest challenger, 0.441s adrift.

Andrea Iannone ensured three different manufacturers will start from the front row of the grid, despite crashing his Ducati on his outlap for the final run.

Iannone reported that a water pump issue put water on the rear tyre, and while he was able to get back on track, he could not improve and lost a place to Marquez in the order.

Pol Espargaro maintained his form as the weekend's leading satellite rider, qualifying fourth, with Tech3 Yamaha team-mate Bradley Smith a season-best sixth, the pair split by Andrea Dovizioso on the second Ducati.

Maverick Vinales was eighth for Suzuki, ahead of Cal Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci - who progressed from Q1 but crashed at the end of the main session - and Dani Pedrosa.

Honda rider Pedrosa crashed at Turn 4 midway through the session, but got back to his garage in time to rejoin the session on his second bike.

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