The 2024 FIM Grand Prix World Championship’s fifth round took place from May 10 to 12 at the Le Mans circuit in France.
Supported by YOU-ALL (Fujian You-All Carburetor Co., Ltd.), the Gresini MotoGP Team featured the Spanish brother duo of Marc Marquez (#93) and Alex Marquez (#73) for the season.
During the Friday’s FP1 qualifying session, both riders secured 13th and 19th positions, requiring them to participate in Q1 and unable to directly enter Q2 (the top 10 in FP1 advanced to Q2).
On Saturday, the MotoGP program included qualifying and the Sprint race. In Q1, Marc posted a third-fastest lap time of 1 minute 30.586 seconds, while Alex managed seventh with a 1 minute 31.148 seconds lap. Both failed to advance to Q2, resulting in 13th and 17th grid positions for the Sprint and main race starts.
The afternoon Sprint race, spanning 13 laps or approximately 54.4 kilometers, saw Marc, starting from the fifth row, quickly return to title-contender form. After the first lap, he climbed to fourth, overtaking nine rivals; by Lap 4, he was in third and pushing hard to catch up to the leaders. In the closing stages, a front-runner’s crash on Lap 10 promoted Marc to second, although a 2-second gap separated him from the Desmosedici GP24 in the lead. Marc ultimately secured second place – his third Sprint race runner-up finish in five rounds this season.
Alex finished in 14th position.
After the Sprint, Marc commented, “That was a perfect start: I did well and was lucky as I found the right gap and maintained the right speed. I almost got sandwiched between two other riders, but I managed to escape at good speed. What pleased me most was finding my pace after moving up to fourth, and I was strong in the last 10 to 11 laps. Tomorrow’s race will be challenging, especially if it rains, but I’ll sleep well tonight.”
Alex remarked, “We haven’t reached our peak performance yet, but it’s not all negative. Today, I regained a good feeling with the bike, and I was fast in the Sprint. Of course, the qualifying result influenced our race, but over 27 laps tomorrow, we’ll definitely head in a positive direction.”