Source: Supplied.

It may only be their fifth full-time appearance in the MotoGP World Championship but already Red Bull KTM teammates Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith have qualified inside the top 10.

Espargaro will start out of position eight and Smith from 10th at Le Mans in another significant boost for the powerhouse Austrian factory.

“It’s really quite overwhelming for us,” commented KTM MotoGP technical director Sebastian Risse. “I think it’s been a really big step for the project to see how things work out and to prove that we made steps forward at Jerez and that this is not a one off.

“Still we see potential to improve further and this makes us even happier to now face the race and see what else we can learn when we start from further up the grid being with other people and see how the pace can develop there. Anyway, we know what we need to work on and we are obviously not finished with that, but we will understand even better after the race and then hopefully make the next steps based on that.”

Following the introduction of the new ‘big bang’ engine for the Jerez race and further development tests afterwards, the spirits are high in the KTM garage as both KTM RC16 bikes start the French Grand Prix within the top half of the grid.