Alonso obliterates the lap record ahead of Esteban

It was a quick afternoon for the Moto3™ field at the Michelin® Grand Prix de France with CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team’s David Alonso continuing to mark his ground in Le Mans. The Colombian smashed the lap record for the second time on Friday, setting a remarkable 1:40.470. The #80 was ahead of fellow teammate Joel Esteban (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team), who was the only other rider inside the 1:40 bracket – 0.480s adrift from Alonso. In third place after briefly snatching the top spot with 10 minutes remaining was Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) - continuing to look like a race contender.

It was a dramatic session throughout with riders pushing to the absolute limit as the top spot changed hands multiple times between Alonso, Esteban, and Holgado. However, further down the field David Almansa (Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team) crashed at turn three early in the session before both MLav Racing machines would soon hit the deck as Scott Ogden and Josh Whatley both crashed at turn six, riders ok.

Returning to racing this weekend was Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), ending Friday in fourth position after a good start to the French GP. The Spaniard was a mere 0.014s faster than Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), who rounded out the top five and suffered a crash in the closing stages of the session at turn 13. Having yet another strong weekend was CIP Green Power’s Riccardo Rossi who leaped to sixth in the timesheets. Tatsuki Suzuki rounded off a great day for the Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP team, ending Friday in a brilliant seventh ahead of Angel Piqueras (Leopard Racing). The #36 crashed his Leopard machine on a fast lap at the end of the session, finishing in eighth.

Further down the order was BOE Motorsports’ Joel Kelso after setting a strong 1:41.356 early in the session before losing the front at turn six. Jacob Roulstone (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) worked with Holgado on track to round out the top 10 ahead of Ryusei Yamanaka. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) was 12^th after crashing at turn start of Practice 1. The Spaniard was ahead of Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) and Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) who took the final spots in Q2.

Make sure you don’t miss the rider’s last chance to secure their spot in Q2 on Saturday at 8:40 local time (UTC +2) before qualifying gets underway at 12:50 local time. Make sure you tune in and keep up to date on motogp.com!

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