Francesco Bagnaia The Italian’s poor run at the 2026 French Grand Prix late in MotoGP led to Neil Hodgson expressing his confusion at the barnstorming round.
The Italian rider impressed the sold-out crowd at Le Mans by securing his first front-research start since last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
Can Francesco Bagnaia turn his impressive first pole position into a maiden victory at the French Grand Prix in 2026? 🤔
Bagnaya Joined at the factory Ducati Companion Mark Marquez On the front row of the grid for the Sprint and Grand Prix. The world champion had to go through Q1 first to shoot for pole and break the Le Mans lap record in the process.
After a tough first day of practice on a Sarte-based circuit, Bagnaia expressed his satisfaction with how Ducati set up the GP26Noting that he was consistently able to reach the prototype limit without causing another crash.
His optimism seems to have been rewarded, and he has now opened his pole position tag for the 2026 MotoGP term, with his next aim on the list being to secure his first win of the year.
Neil Hodgson and Silvan Guintoli react to Francesco Bagnaia’s French GP pole lap.
Season TNT Sports Eligibility coverage by French Grand PrixAnalysts Gavin Emmett and Neil Hodgson Bagnaya joked that he wasn’t in close quarters with the speed he showed.
“We shouldn’t be kidding, but his run is really confusing,” the latter concluded.
Partner Sylvan Guintoli They share the same sentiment, but also point out how good it is to see the two-time world champion back to form, even if it’s just the weekend of a race week.
What was your reaction to Marc Marquez’s new Le Mans lap record in Q1?
David Tardozzi is certainly pleased… 😮💨
“It’s good to see that he’s backing him from the Jerez test, he’s obviously got something there, and he’s brought it here with him,” the former MotoGP rider told the audience.
“Yesterday he was fast, he had a good pace, he was able to do well yesterday in the attack on the clock, and he managed to repeat it today. It was a very good, good lap time, and yes, Peko is back in good form.
“We haven’t seen a lot of Peco results recently, so it’s great to have him back in the mix. Now with this pole position, he’s got a great chance to at least make it count for the Sprint. We’ve got a real fight.”
Michael Laverty points out the improvement of Francesco Bagnaia on the GP26
Michael Laverty He also paid tribute at #63 as he regained the form shown in his successful campaigns in recent years. Northern Ireland’s Bagnaia cites his confidence in the brakes as the deciding factor.
He added: “Of course we want to see the two-time world champion fight like a double world champion. Last year he looked like a shadow of his former self and even at the beginning of the season we thought they would straighten things out in the winter.”
But he looked all overboard in the four season openers. He came here after testing in Jerez; You obviously opened something.
“He changed the aero body a little bit this weekend, more torque, maybe he changed the balance of the bike. But he looked better in the braking zones, better, and turning, consistently better, and he delivered another pole.
“And that’s what Peco was able to do during his championship-winning season, get that little bit more grip out of the tires, get that tenth of a second.”
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