Alonso obliterates the lap record to pull half a second on Esteban, Holgado

It was a quick afternoon for the Moto3™ field at the Michelin® Grand Prix de France with CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team’s David Alonso continuing to mark his ground in Le Mans.

The Colombian smashed the lap record for the second time on Friday, setting a remarkable 1:40.470. The #80 was ahead of teammate Joel Esteban (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team), who was the only other rider inside the 1:40 bracket – but 0.480s adrift from Alonso. In third place after briefly snatching the top spot with 10 minutes remaining was Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) – continuing to look like a race contender.

It was a dramatic session throughout with riders pushing to the absolute limit as the top spot changed hands multiple times between Alonso, Esteban, and Holgado. There were also a number of crashers, riders ok.

Meanwhile, returning to racing this weekend was Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), ending Friday in fourth but a mere 0.014s faster than Jerez winner Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), who rounded out the top five despite suffering a crash in the closing stages of the session at turn 13.

Can Alonso convert his pace and bounce back from Spanish GP disappointment? The first mission is to head through to Q2 via P2 at 8:40 (UTC+ 2), before qualifying from 12:50… so come back for more on Saturday!

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