Gino Rea. (24th 1’ 39” 796) “The position is still not where we want to be but we’re improving the bike. I didn’t manage to get an ideal lap in today because we used the new tyre at the start of the session and by the time we wanted to really push it was already worn. It’s good that we’ve closed the gap to the leaders but it’s a shame to start from so far back. Hopefully we can make a good start in the race and make up some more positions.”

Fausto Gresini “We knew this Grand Prix would be like a test for us and it has proved to be the case. It is not always easy to switch to a new bike and today was a case of working to find a set-up that allows Gino to contest a positive race.”

Source: Gresini Racing

Smith will start his landmark 100th Grand Prix from the front of the seventh row of the grid after the Moto2 field served up another closely contested qualifying session at a cool and cloudy Le Mans track.

Smith clocked a best time of 1.39.301, which left him less than 0.5s away from the third row, but as he was poised to try and improve his lap time in the final five minutes, rain spots started to fall on the legendary Bugatti circuit to deny the 21-year-old.

Xavier Simeon will not start the 26-lap race after he suffered fractures to his left hand and foot in a heavy crash on his 12th lap. Simeon has been transferred to a Le Mans hospital where he will undergo further assessment after also suffering a heavy blow his to pelvis.

Bradley Smith 19th 139.301 – 21 laps:
“Starting from 19th place on the grid is not where I anticipated being for my 100th Grand Prix. Obviously it is a special weekend reaching that milestone and this being the Tech 3 Racing Team’s home race, but it was another frustrating qualifying session. I had quite good pace this morning and then we made some changes to the Mistral 610 machine and unfortunately we didn’t make it better. The weather didn’t help when it started to rain at the end and to be honest I won’t be too sorry if it is a wet race. If it rains then we have a chance of being able to fight through the pack, but in the dry it will definitely be a tough race. We’ll analyse where it wrong today and be ready to come out fighting tomorrow. I also want to wish Xavier a quick recovery and hope to see him back on the other side of the Tech 3 Racing garage soon.”

Source: Team Tech3

Both riders fell victim to very treacherous track conditions, slipping off on the ice-rink surface and as a result neither rider made the qualifying cut – 107 percent of pole time. Danny Webb (21, from England) fell in the early stages after completing only three laps, and was not able to go out again. German team-mate Marcel Schrötter (19) also fell, but was able to rejoin after repairs, completing eight laps.

Because each had achieved respectable positions in free practice, they will be able to start the race. But it will be from the back of the 30-plus grid, even though Danny was a promising 18th on Friday. They face a hard job, as they try to claw back positions and move into the top 15 to score the first points for the new Mahindra MGP-30.

The problems are all part of growing pains for the all-new all-independent Mahindra, pursuing its own technological goals with an independent engine and chassis in a field dominated by well-developed over-the-counter production racers. The white-and-red machine is still at the beginning of its development, although already in at the deep end of the new-this-year Moto3™ class which replaced the traditional 125 two-strokes with 250cc single-cylinder four-strokes.

“This is a difficult moment. We have technical problems that we need to solve, and I don’t know how much time we need. But if we all work together – engineers, riders, technicians and the whole team – we will do it,” said Mahindra Racing COO, Mufaddal Choonia.

DANNY WEBB – 32nd Position I had a problem this morning and it seems to have come again in the afternoon. Unfortunately, after the crash I couldn’t go out again. I’d only done three laps, so I’m pretty gutted. Starting from the back means a tough race… I hope it isn’t raining.

Source: Mahindra Racing

British rider Redding heads the second row of the grid in fourth position after he posted a best time of 1.38.369, which saw him denied a second consecutive front row start by just 0.179s.

The 19-year-old excelled in practice to finish second fastest overall and he was confident he could have pushed for the front row only for late rain and a small crash to thwart his bid.

This afternoon’s session was building up to a typically exciting climax when rain that had affected the earlier MotoGP and Moto3 sessions began to fall with just five minutes left on the clock.

Small spots of rain were falling at almost every corner and pushing to try and improve his pace, Redding ran off track in the final two minutes and despite a valiant attempt to keep control of his Kalex machine he toppled over in the gravel trap.

Scott Redding #45: 4th Position – 1’38.369
“It was a decent session and I can’t complain to be fourth on the grid but the rain spots right at the end probably cost me a front row. I’ve been fast and competitive and inside the top three all weekend, so it would have been nice to be on the front row. It was hard to judge where the grip was at the end and to be honest I should have cracked on a bit earlier. It took me a bit too long to get into a rhythm but I’m not a million miles away, so I’m confident I will be battling at the front in the race tomorrow. The crash at the end was a shame but I just couldn’t keep it on two wheels in the gravel. I’d rather that happen today though than in the race!”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“When we look at how Scott has been so fast and competitive throughout practice yesterday and this morning, we were pretty confident that he would be starting the race from the front row. The conditions were a little bit tricky and that didn’t make it easy but the good thing is Scott was still fast and consistent and able to qualify just off the front row. It is a good starting position to make a good race and the important thing is that he has demonstrated all weekend that he has the pace. Mika has also been challenging inside the top six all weekend too, so we are really looking forward to seeing both our riders battling for the podium tomorrow. That would be a perfect situation to reward the support of our loyal and valued sponsor Elf in the French Grand Prix.”

Source: Marc VDS Racing

The top three qualifiers at Le Mans used different front tyres in combination with the soft rear slick to record their best times, with Pedrosa setting his time of 1:33.638 on the medium compound front slick tyre to finish three-tenths of a second clear of Stoner who ran the soft compound front slick. Meanwhile, Monster Tech3 Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso opted for the new specification medium compound front slick and was the only other rider to qualify in the 1 minute 33 second bracket and will line up on the grid in P3. In front of his home crowd, Power Electronics Aspar Randy de Puniet was the top CRT qualifier and will start on the fourth row in 12th place.

Rain earlier in the day resulted in the qualifying session starting under damp track conditions with riders taking to the track on soft wet tyres front and rear in an effort to gauge grip levels on the circuit. Halfway through the session a dry line started to appear and riders began to switch to slick tyres which quickened the pace and saw the rider classification change from one lap to the next. Though the session ended with the circuit being mainly dry, track temperatures remained quite cool at around 20°C which prevented riders matching the times recorded at last year’s qualifying practice which took place in much warmer conditions.

Race action at the French Grand Prix kicks off at 1400 local time (GMT +2) tomorrow.

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Soft, Medium (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)
Weather: Dry Ambient 15-17°C; Track 16-20°C (Bridgestone measurement)

Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“We had highly variable conditions for qualifying today, with the track starting damp and then drying slowly during the session and so riders chose a wide variety of wet and slick tyre compounds to deal with the rapidly changing grip levels on the circuit.

“As we saw in yesterday’s free practice, when conditions were dry in qualifying many riders chose to run the soft rear slick in conjunction with the medium front slick to give them more stability in the heavy braking sections in the first half of the circuit. I expect that if conditions are dry tomorrow then this combination will be widely used and that the majority of riders that choose the medium compound front slick will select this option in the new specification front slick tyre. There is a high probability of a wet or flag-to-flag race but whatever the weather brings tomorrow, the pace for the top five riders is very close so I hope to see a very exciting race.”

Source: Bridgestone Motorsport

For the third time in four races this season, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team has one rider starting from the front row after Dovizioso stormed to third place on the grid.

Dovizioso, who is going in search of a third successive MotoGP rostrum at the legen dary Bugatti track in tomorrow’s 28-lap race, challenged for a front row place throughout a session that started on a wet track after earlier rain.

Conditions quickly improved and for the second half of the session, Dovizioso and Crutchlow were able to lap on slick tyres with the circuit completely dry and at one stage they occupied the top two places on the timesheets.

British rider Crutchlow led the leaderboard in the early stages and he came close to claiming a third front row start of the season after another outstanding qualifying display.

He was in eighth place when a lap of 1.34.178 elevated him to the front row. Despite the 26-year-old’s best efforts to improve his pace he will start from the middle of the second row in fifth place, his best time just over 0.2s from Dovizioso.

Cal Crutchlow 5th 1.34.178 – 22 laps:
“I can’t be disappointed to have qualified in fifth position but I think I could have challenged for pole position had things gone my way. I made a couple of small mistakes on my fast laps right at the end and that cost me a little bit of time. And we didn’t have the best set-up with the bike. We made some modifications for qualifying but with the conditions wet and damp at the start, we couldn’t tell if it was an improvement and in hindsight it would have been better to stay with the setting I ran this morning. We are not sure what is in store with the weather tomorrow but I am happy with the job we did today and once again we are very close to the front and I’m really looking forward to a good fight in the race. Andrea did a good job today and it is great to have both Tech 3 Yamaha riders competing for the front row. Hopefully we can both have a strong result for Tech 3 and Monster tomorrow.”

Source: Team Tech3

Not qualified (Out 107%) 2’03.975
* 99 Danny WEBB GBR Mahindra Racing MAHINDRA 2’04.144 3 3 8.279 0.518 185.6
* 77 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Mahindra Racing MAHINDRA 2’05.206 6 8 9.341 1.062 192.8
* 3 Luigi MORCIANO ITA Ioda Team Italia IODA 2’05.565 7 7 9.700 0.359 177.9