The real McCoy.

Garry McCoy returned to the front of 500cc action in a closely fought first qualifying session, for the French Grand Prix, at Le Mans.

World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. had set the early pace in the one hour session, before McCoy moved to the top, ahead of the Marlboro Yamaha duo of Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi, in third and fourth respectively.

World Championship leader, Valentino Rossi, moved into the top five 20mins into the session - while McCoy went even faster at the front of the field.

On the half hour mark Norick Abe occupied second, just 0.269secs off pole, as the Japanese rider built on his impressive second in Jerez last time out. Just minutes later Rossi displaced Roberts by putting his #46 Honda into third.

However, the American soon fought back and moved into second soon after on what was clearly a much better handling Suzuki.

Positions remained static until Rossi put his Nastro Azzuro machine into it's now familiar top spot, but with Abe now just 0.022secs behind in second, followed by Roberts, McCoy, Haga and Checa.

Into the last 10mins and Roberts was back out on track - and again looking threatening. Amazingly, given his season so far, he put his Suzuki back on top with a lap of 1min 39.693secs, giving him an advantage of some 0.303secs.

Minutes later McCoy, who had steadily improved throughout the session, jumped into second, 0.255secs behind the American - but his next lap looked even quicker, and the Australian moved to within 0.091secs of pole.

Next to show their cards was Abe, who sensationally moved ahead of Roberts into provisional pole, while Nakano moved in front of Checa into fifth. Rossi then took second himself in the final frantic few seconds.

However, it would be Garry McCoy who had the final word when he went 0.133secs quicker than Abe on his final quick lap of the day, to mark a return to form after a difficult few races for the rapid - and occasionally ragged - Australian.

In other news, Olivier Jacque has reluctantly withdrawn from his home GP after feeling intense pain in his injured forearm.

Full times to follow....

1. McCoy 1min 39.666secs
2. Abe +0.164secs
3. Rossi +0.218secs
4. Roberts +0.326secs
5. Biaggi +0.439secs
6. Haga +0.572secs
7. Checa +0.648secs
8. Nakano +0.670secs