Portugal Colonial - Marc Marquez sets Le Mans lap record in French MotoGP practice

The 32-year-old, who is one point behind his brother Alex Marquez at the top of the standings heading into the sixth race of the season, was comfortably fastest in both sessions on his Ducati.

In the second session he clocked 1min 29.855sec to improve on Jorge Martin's old track record, set last year, of 1min 29.919sec.

Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, world champion in 2021, confirmed his Yamaha's renewed form by setting the second fastest time of the session 0.177sec behind Marquez followed by Francesco Bagnaia's Ducati.

Spanish rookie Fermín Aldeguer continued to impress as he took fourth while Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini), who won his maiden MotoGP race in the last meet in Madrid, had to settle for fifth fastest 0.401sec behind his brother.

The riders will have qualifying on Saturday followed by the Sprint race.

Reigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Marti is out of action indefinitely after a brutal crash in last month's Qatar Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old was making his first appearance of the season for his new team Aprilia.

He was first injured during pre-season testing in Sepang and had to undergo surgery at the beginning of February.

He then suffered another crash which necessitated another operation on his left hand at the end of February, just before the opening round of the season in Thailand.

P.Queiroz--PC