Under sunny skies at Le Mans, Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP completed a demanding opening day of practice for the French Grand Prix, with both Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu continuing the development work on the Yamaha YZR-M1 while trying to secure direct access to Q2.
Despite encouraging moments throughout the two sessions — particularly with some competitive lap times posted by Miller — the team was ultimately unable to convert the pace into stronger finishing positions by the end of the day. Miller closed Friday in 15th place, while Razgatlıoğlu finished 20th as both riders missed the opportunity to move further up the standings.
Track action resumes on Saturday with FP2 at 10:10 AM local time, immediately followed by Q1 and Q2. With weather forecasts suggesting rain for the remainder of the weekend, tomorrow could represent the final opportunity to work in stable dry conditions before the Sprint Race later in the afternoon.
Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Rider
It’s still a step-by-step process and we know there’s a long way to go, but we’re only around half a second from the front and just outside Q2. Looking at the lap that Rins managed today, it’s clear that the potential is there.
We’re struggling a little bit on the front straight, but the acceleration itself doesn’t feel too bad. The main area we still need to improve is the engine character and staying consistently within the grip window. At the moment it feels like I can’t fully extract the maximum from the rear tyre in certain corners because of the balance between grip and the amount of torque we’re putting down.