Lap records tumble at Le Mans as Johann Zarco pips Francesco Bagnaia
Despite lap times remaining close to seven tenths off of FP2, home favourite Fabio Quartararo was leading the way from Marc Marquez.
A time of 1:31.844s was set by the French rider, however, Jorge Martin clocked a 1:31.798s to go quickest.
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After a disastrous day-one at Le Mans, Takakki Nakagami managed to put his LCR Honda in second in regards to FP3 - 11th on combined times.
Marking a drastic change compared to events of FP2, the first 20 minutes of the session were without any crashes.
That unfortunately changed with exactly 25 minutes to go as Pol Espargaro, who is under intense pressure to keep his Honda ride, crashed at turn 7.
Nakagami, who is another Honda rider under pressure to perform, was seemingly the first rider to improve on combined times.
The Japanese rider went quickest for FP3 which translated to fourth overall. However, Nakagami then lost his lap due to exceeding track limits at the final corner.
The fastest ever rider at Le Mans, Enea Bastianini had a mechanical issue with just over ten minutes to go.
The Italian, who was making his way along the back-straight, was reduced to pulling off-track after a huge puff of smoke came from the rear of his Gresini Ducati.
As lap times began to challenge Bastianini’s day-one effort, Marquez moved up to fourth after using Quartararo as a tow.
That then turned into third despite suffering a near massive highside at turn 10. Meanwhile, Quartararo set the first-ever sub 1m 31s lap to go three tenths clear of Bastianini.
Jack Miller managed to reduce Quartararo’s lead to two tenths, before pole sitter at Jerez, Francesco Bagnaia went fastest by nearly three tenths.
In what was a repeat of the previous run, Marquez used Quartararo to drag himself into the top three.
With the top three looking set, Zarco had other ideas as he gained time on Bagnaia in the final sector to go fastest, and with it becoming the third different rider to break the official lap record.
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Two-time MotoGP race winner, Bastianini ended day-one of the Le Mans MotoGP fastest after setting a new lap record.
The Italian was over two tenths clear of Aleix Espargaro, with the Spaniard once again showing good speed at the Bugatti Circuit.
In typical Le Mans fashion, crashes were a big highlight of Friday practice as a total of eight riders crashed in FP2.
Among those were Bastianini, Jack Miller, Joan Mir and both Mooney VR46 Ducati riders Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini.
One rider who came close to crashing but didn’t, was Repsol Honda’s Marquez. The eight-time world champion produced back-to-back ‘saves’, with the first coming in FP1 at turn eight.
The second was equally impressive as he managed to collect a momentary front-end wobble at turn seven, the same corner that brother Alex fell at.
