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Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso was the quickest man on the opening day at the Grand Prix of France, fresh from signing a two-year extension to remain in red

Dovizioso set a new circuit record with a 1m31.936s – the only rider to delve into the 1m31s – to lead world champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), 0.168 behind and ahead of Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).

Rossi’s teammate Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) ended the day fourth overall, the Spaniard was third in FP1, but left it late to jump up into the top five in FP2. Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was fifth in front of his home crowd, confirming his solid pace in Le Mans.

Alma Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller was sixth on the combined practice time-sheets, the Australian was in and around the top eight throughout FP2 and could be looking good for an automatic Q2 spot after ending FP1 in P12. Pol Espargaro had a good showing on the KTM, despite his early crash and ended the day seventh quickest.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), sporting a new aerodynamic fairing in FP2, jumped up to eighth on his final lap to grab a provisional Q2 spot. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) impressed again to finish ninth in FP2. Rounding out the top 10 was Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team).

Despite suffering from shoulder ligament damage, Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) topped the Moto2 time-sheets, 0.081s ahead of championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46), who was second overall despite a big crash in FP1, with Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) third overall.

In Moto3, Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was the rider to beat on the opening day, setting his quickest time of FP2 with two minutes to go, from the first-ever Asia Talent Cup champion, Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia), with Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) rounding out the top three.

Detailed results