MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo Smashes Lap Record At Le Mans

Jorge Lorenzo is on fire at Le Mans. The reigning champ threw down a 1:31.975, breaking the circuit record and putting his Movistar Yamaha on pole for tomorrow’s French Grand Prix. It was a superb lap, but even Lorenzo didn’t expect to drop into the 31’s.

“Was amazing. I didn't expect to be so fast,” Lorenzo said. “I expected to stay in 32 low, but not this 31.9, even though in FP4 I felt really comfortable in the last laps with the old tire. So I imagined that I could improve seven to eight tenths, but finally improve almost one second… It was a great lap.”

That lap sort of demoralized the opposition. Even Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez is already thinking best of the rest. It’s a track that Lorenzo clearly shines on and track where the Honda doesn’t.

“Of course I would like to be closer to Jorge [Lorenzo], but today was not possible,” Marquez said. “The main target was to finish on the front row and we got it. We know that at this circuit we would struggle and we are struggling a lot. Tomorrow will be a tough race, because there are many riders on the similar pace – both Ducatis, Valentino [Rossi]… We will see. We will try to do our best and get a good start and lets see if Lorenzo doesn’t feel like today and we can follow him for some laps.”

Joining them on the front row is Ducati’s Andrea Iannone. The Italian set his fast lap early on and fortunately for Iannone it was good enough to keep him on the front row because he crashed before he had a chance to give it a second go. Asked about the crash, Iannone was cryptic at first.

“The crash is very strange,” Iannone said. “I think Ducati have more information than me. For sure is better to ask Ducati about this.”

But when he was pressed again, Iannone said that it was possible it was a water issue.

“Sincerely I don't know what happen because was a very strange crash,” Iannone said. “After the conference I have a meeting with the engineers, but I had a red, red on the bike, and red, red for me that is a water problem, but I don't know. For sure later I have more info, but at the moment I don’t know.”

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro leads the second row, a vast improvement for the Spaniard and his teammate Bradley Smith who qualified in sixth. In the middle was Iannone’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso, giving the factory Ducati squad two top-five qualifying performances on the day.

In seventh was Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi, consequently the Italian’s worst qualifying result this season. Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales was eighth ahead of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow. Rounding out the top 10 was Octo Pramac Yakhnich Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.

2016 MotoGP Le Mans Qualifying Results: