Terol to defend Championship lead from pole in Le Mans

125cc World Championship leader Nico Terol will start Sunday’s race at Le Mans from pole position, after he topped the Saturday afternoon qualifying session with a best lap of 1’43.719.

The Bancaja Aspar rider currently holds a seven-point advantage over Pol Espargaró in the Championship standings, and the Tuenti Racing rider was second quickest in the session at just 0.145s behind. German youngster Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) ensured that the front row will have a non-Spanish rider on it for the first time this season, and Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) will make it three Derbi machines out of four.

Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) looks to be recovering pace on his Aprilia well and will start from the front of the second row. The Brit set his best time of the session on his 19th and final lap, before a small fall right at the end. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany), Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) and Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) all set top-eight times as well to give themselves promising starting positions for Sunday.

The third row will be comprised of Frenchman Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team), Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) – who had a fall – Luis Salom (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) and Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing).

The 125cc Monster Energy Grand Prix de France is due to start at 11am local time on Sunday.