After another strong race weekend in Le Mans with two top 5 in sprint and race, and a second-row grid position, the goal was simple for Maverick Viñales: keep the momentum going, keep the positive feeling on and continue the learning of the RC16. The feeling was positive for Top Gun after the opening Free Practice 1, at the end of which we saw our number 12 take the 6th time with a 1’59.222, setting the tone for the weekend ahead. The afternoon’s one-hour practice turned out to be extremely competitive, with 15 riders finishing less than one second from the new all-time lap record set by Alex Marquez in 1'57.295. The first 30 min was as usual about fine-tuning the package and working on the race pace, before increasing the rhythm in the second half. After 30 min, Maverick sat outside of the top 10, before an improved 1’38.347 saw him jump to the top of the timesheets for just a few seconds. All riders increased their pace, and progressively, Maverick’s lap times went down. He remained in the provisional top 10 for a while, but he eventually got pushed out of it with less than 4 minutes left on the clock, as all riders put in their final efforts to clock in their best of the day. Maverick pushed and gave it his all, managing to improve to a 1’58.062 with just one flying lap remaining. No further improvements were then made, and Maverick finished 14th, meaning that he will have to go through a busy Q1 on Saturday morning.

Winner in both sprint and main race in 2024, the story this year was a bit different for Enea Bastianini still going through some difficulties to find his way around the RC16. Every race weekend has been a full reset for the Italian who has been trying to adapt to layouts he knows by heart, yet with a bike that he still has not quite figured out yet. FP1 was usually about adapting to the track and understanding the lines, the corners, the brakings. His fastest lap of FP1 was a 2'00.797, just 2 seconds off the fastest lap. In the afternoon’s practice, ‘Bestia’ managed to make some decent improvements with a best in 1’58.830 that placed him 18th in the timesheets at end of play. The Italian will have some work to do to try arriving to Saturday with improvements and ideas for qualifying, as he hopes to place his RC16 better on the grid. MotoGP™ action will be back on Saturday with FP2 at 11:10 (UTC+1), followed immediately by the qualifying sessions. Then the Tissot Sprint will kick off at 16:00 for 10 laps!