Gonzalez fights back on Saturday morning

It was time for the Moto2™ field to hit the track to decide who would get direct entry to Q2 later on at the Michelin® Grand Prix de France. At the end of the proceedings, it was QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2™’s Manuel Gonzalez who stole the headlines after setting a magnificent 1:34.868 to top the session on Saturday morning. Gonzalez was pushing hard late in the session, crashing in the final two minutes after setting a further two red sectors. Behind the #18 was Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) who was fastest at the end of Friday and spent most of Practice 2 at the top of the timesheets. The Spaniard was 0.242s adrift and ahead of compatriot Jeremy Alcoba (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team), after a brilliant session to finish in third position.

It was a dramatic session throughout with Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) crashing at the final corner with over 20 minutes remaining on the clock. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) had a moment of his own at the final corner, losing the rear and spectacularly saving a crash.

World Championship leader Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team) was fourth, continuing a fantastic run in 2024, setting sights on maintaining his five-point lead. Behind the American was Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), who rounded out the top five after a late lap to put the #35 comfortably inside the top 14. Chantra ended the session ahead of Folladore SpeedUp’s Alonso Lopez, who left it late to set a strong time. Filip Salac (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) was seventh, continuing to show great pace at Le Mans ahead of Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing Team).

Fermin Aldeguer (Folladore SpeedUp) was down in ninth place and was briefly at risk of ending the session outside the top 14. However, the #54 put in some strong laps and jumped from 14^th to ninth in the last five minutes of the session to end Practice 2 ahead of Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI). Jake Dixon was the only CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team rider inside the top 14 ahead of Albert Arenas (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2™) and Barry Baltus (RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP).

It will be a tense Q1 later with many key contenders needing to go through the unpredictable session to fight for pole position including Aron Canet, who after dropping down to 16^th in the combined standings ahead of qualifying after the Portuguese GP winner set a 1:35.657. Zonta Van Den Goorbergh was also pushed out of the top 14 by teammate Baltus in the final minute and will join Canet and Izan Guevara (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) in Q1.

The next time Moto2™ will be back on track will be for the all-important qualifying session at 13:45 local time (UTC +2), so make sure you keep up to date with all of the action on motogp.com!

Combined top 10:

FULL RESULTS!