Intense FP2 with many riders taking the lead, with the final attack coming in the last seconds from Maverick Viñales.
The sun was shining in Le Mans and the conditions seemed to be “on point” for the riders to show their best.
In the final free practice session before qualifying, Jorge Martín started as the fastest with a lap of 1:32.734s, with Jack Miller close behind, but the Australian took the lead in the session on the next lap, beating Marc Márquez. The best lap time was currently set at 1:31.482s.
After completing four laps, Miguel Oliveira moved up to the second best time of the session, but once again it was Miller who improved his time and cemented himself in the lead, followed by M. Márquez who beat the Portuguese by 0.057s.
On the sixth lap in FP2, Álex Márquez jumped to the top of the table with 1:31.266s, with a 0.049s advantage over Francesco Bagnaia, also at a point in the session where Aleix Espargaró became the best Aprilia on track, 0.120s behind #73. Many riders then headed back to the garage.
Álex fell shortly after reaching the top of the table:
He had just set the fastest time 💔@alexmarquez73 goes down at T8 💥#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/GGa2NX3pFs
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 11, 2024
Viñales, a couple of minutes later, overtook Aleix and became the third fastest in the session, at a point where more riders were in the team garages.
With ten minutes left in the session, this was the top ten:
Five minutes before the end of the session, Jorge Martín showed his skills and took the lead by being 0.017s faster than A. Márquez. However, his ‘reign’ was short-lived as Enea Bastianini took the lead about a minute later with a lap time of 1:31.236s, 0.013s faster than Martín’s previous time.
In the final seconds, Viñales took the lead, with Bagnaia in second place with a difference of 0.072s to the #12.
The session ended shortly after with the times as follows:
