The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider qualifies in first place at the French Grand Prix, with teammate Remy Gardner on the third row.

Qualifying for the French Grand Prix, held today at Le Mans, saw Raul Fernandez take his first pole position in the Moto2 World Championship – the seventh of his sporting career. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rookie managed to overcome the constant changes in the weather conditions and led the FP3, in the morning, and a wet Qualifying 2, in the afternoon. He and teammate Remy Gardner had both made it through directly through to the session, with the Australian seventh on the grid for the fifth race of the 2021 season.

In the morning, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moro2 duo rode on a track in mixed conditions, and both decided to tackle FP3 with calm and caution. In the final part of the session, the asphalt dried out and Fernandez made strong progress, topping the timesheets with a 1:38.239, 5 tenths quicker than his nearest rival. The Spaniard completed 8 laps, whilst his teammate put in 15. Gardner finished the practice in 19th position after stopping the clock at 1:40.057.

Both made the cut for Qulifying 2, in which rain appeared right at the beginning of the session. Despite the difficulties presented, Fernandez pushed hard to seal his maiden pole position in the intermediate class, thanks to a time of 1:50.135. Gardner will be on the third row, with his 1:51.146 lap putting him seventh.

The 25-lap Moto2 French Grand Prix starts at 12:20 PM, local time, on Sunday.

Results (Qualifying session)

1. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:50.135
2. Marco Bezzecchi (Kalex) 1:50.375 +0.240
3. Joe Roberts (Kalex) 1:50.514 +0.379
4. Aron Canet (Boscoscuro) 1:50.782 +0.647
5. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) 1:50.796 +0.661
7. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:51.146 +1.011

87 REMY GARDNER

“Today was a strange day for everyone. In any case, I’m happy. It was not our best qualifying session, but the important thing is that our feeling was quite good. Unfortunately, I was not able to take advantage of my last fastest lap as, when trying to overtake another rider, I lost some time. Even so, I am satisfied with the work that we did, and we showed that we are strong both in the dry and in the wet. We are ready for tomorrow.”

25 RAUL FERNANDEZ

“I’m very happy. Yesterday I didn’t feel good riding in mixed conditions. However, today in both FP3 and qualifying the track was between being dry and wet, but the result was good. I feel satisfied, as we have pace and we have speed. I don’t want to think about what the weather will be like tomorrow. I want to enjoy the moment, rest well and see what happens on Sunday. We will give our one hundred percent – as we always do.”