MotoGP™ has landed in the historic racing city of Le Mans ahead of Round 7 of the World Championship, and we are set for another spectacular weekend of blockbuster action at the SHARK Helmets Grand Prix of France. There’s an air of unpredictability surrounding how the weekend’s action will unfold, with the potential of rain accompanied by thunderstorms looming over riders and teams’ best-laid plans. That, amongst much more, was up for discussion at the pre-event Press Conference, which saw reigning Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) joined by Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team).

Should a wet race be declared, a number of riders will wear worried faces. Chief among them will be Spanish GP winner, Pecco Bagnaia who is uncertain of how his GP22 will perform. The Italian recalled his struggles earlier in the season in the biblical Mandalika rain, before contrasting it with the tricky Saturday conditions in Portugal.  

“Indonesia was a strange situation for me. Normally in the wet, we are strong and fast, but not there. I was very slow, the feeling with the bike was a bit strange. But in Portimao in the wet, we were competitive, and last year I finished fourth with two long laps, and I was well behind.

“Last year at Le Mans, I wasn’t competitive in the dry, so let’s see. It looks like the whole weekend will be dry apart from two o’clock on Sunday when we start to race, but let’s see.”

Bagnaia isn’t the only rider who is concerned by the weekend’s forecast, with Aleix Espargaro and Johann Zarco waiting on weather conditions.

Espargaro: “It’s difficult to predict how the bike will work here because especially in the last seasons it has been quite strange regarding the weather conditions. We don’t have a lot of information but so far the bike has been quite competitive at every single track so I will try to work hard from FP1 and prepare the bikes as well as possible.”

Zarco: “It was planned to be fully dry for the weekend but maybe now it can change. So, we will adapt and see. All of them are pretty ready and strong to fight. Jack [Miller] likes the track here and he will be there. I will do my job and see what I can do.”

After their Jerez showdown a fortnight ago, many are tipping last year’s Championship top two to face-off once more. The rider in red came out on top in Spain, and despite being at Quartararo’s home event, recent history suggests Bagnaia may have the advantage in Le Mans. The Ducati rider will be seeking to make it a hat-trick of victories for the Bologna bullets in France, following in the footsteps of teammate Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci. However, he is wary of the threat all his rivals pose.

“The Yamaha is always very competitive here, Johann [Zarco] was very competitive here last year, and Jack is always very competitive at this track, so let’s see what will happen,” said the Italian.

For Quartararo, he is targeting a strong pre-race performance to help in his victory quest.

“It’s difficult to know who’s going to be on top, fighting for the podium this weekend. It’s a different track to Jerez and the most important thing is to work as usual. We need to work well on Friday, try to already be secure for Q2, and find the great tyres for the race and our pace. Trying to have a good qualifying performance is super-important for us.”

In the immediate aftermath of the Spanish GP, riders had the opportunity to get some more track time and test out some new equipment at a one-day test at Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto. In the case of Aprilia and Honda, they will bring some out some of their discoveries in France.

Aleix Espargaro announced that he and the Noale factory have worked hard to rectify issues surrounding their race starts, with a new clutch set to appear on the RS-GP.  

“Lorenzo Savadori was riding at the last two races as a wildcard with a ‘lab bike’. It had a lot of different things. We tried a lot of new things at the Monday Test. A couple of new things I will use in Mugello but the clutch, a carbon clutch, I will use for the first time this weekend, which is quite a good improvement. It’s lighter and better for the start, so Aprilia is working hard to try and reduce the gap in the places where we can improve.”

For eight-time Champion Marc Marquez, he played coy on the specifics of what would be new on the RC213V, but admitted there will be some tweaks.

“I was able to test midday in a good way, and we tried a few things that were working not so bad. It’s true that there were some things we expected even more from but didn’t work like we thought. Let’s see here if all the new things we introduced helps a bit to be closer. I think they are not enough to fight for the victory, but the target is to improve every race.”

Nobody from the current grid has taken the win in Le Mans more times than Marquez, but even he himself admits he “has no clear targets” as he hones in finding form. You can see how the number 93 and his competitors get on over the weekend, with wheels on the ground from 09:55 CET for FP1 on Friday. Make sure you tune in then!