Matteo Ferrari will have the honour of starting the new Ducati era of MotoE from pole position at Le Mans despite taking a tumble in the final moments of the qualifying session.
The Italian - champion of MotoE's inaugural season in 2019 - defied the onset of light rain during the ten minute session to shake out at the head of the timesheets on the Felo Gresini bike.
However, it didn't come without a nervy couple of minutes before the flag fell in Q2 after low-siding off his Ducati at Turn 3, Ferrari watching from the sidelines as Hector Garzo and Jordi Torres got close to his benchmark, but crucially couldn't better it.
A historic moment for Ferrari and the all-electric series - which earns official FIM World Championship status for the first time this year - as a whole, this weekend marks the first competitive outing for the new Ducati V21L MotoE bike.
Built as a prototype - unlike the adapted road going Energica Ego it replaces - even with the rain, the pole-winning time of 1m 40.971s was 2.5secs quicker than last year's top Q2 lap.
Joining Ferrari on the front row will be Dynavolt IntactGP's Garzo, the Spaniard ending up just 0.022s shy of the top spot, while Aspar's Jordi Torres - champion in 2020 and 2021 - was just 0.005s further back in third.
Randy Krummenacher - who together with Garzo replaces departed 2022 MotoE World Cup champion Dominique Aegerter - will get away from fourth, with Kevin Manfredi (SIC58) and Nicholas Spinelli (Pons) alongside him on the second row.
MotoE will run to eight rounds, each a double-header, with both races at Le Mans taking place on Saturday's French MotoGP programme.
French MotoE | Qualifying Results
Le Mans | Conditions - Q1 Overcast, Dry - Q2 Light rain
| 2023 French MotoE | Le Mans, France | Qualifying Results | Round 1 of 8 | ||||
| Pos | Name | Nat. | Team | Time |
| 1 | Matteo Ferrari | ITA | Felo Gresini MotoE | 1m 40.971 |
| 2 | Hector Garzo | ESP | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1m 40.993 |
| 3 | Jordi Torres | ESP | Openbank Aspar Team | 1m 40.996 |
| 4 | Randy Krummenacher | SUI | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1m 41.480 |
| 5 | Kevin Manfredi | ITA | Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse | 1m 41.497 |
| 6 | Nicholas Spinelli | ITA | HP Pons Los40 | 1m 41.646 |
| 7 | Mattia Casadei | ITA | HP Pons Los40 | 1m 41.690 |
| 8 | Kevin Zannoni | ITA | Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse | 1m 41.714 |
| 9 | Miquel Pons | ESP | LCR E-Team | 1m 42.081 |
| 10 | Andrea Mantovani | ITA | RNF MotoE Team | 1m 42.261 |
| 11 | Alessandro Zaccone | ITA | Tech3 E-Racing | 1m 41.667 |
| 12 | Hikari Okubo | JPN | Tech3 E-Racing | 1m 41.753 |
| 13 | Tito Rabat | ESP | Prettl Pramac MotoE | 1m 41.973 |
| 14 | Alessio Finello | ITA | Felo Gresini MotoE | 1m 42.642 |
| 15 | Luca Salvadori | ITA | Prettl Pramac MotoE | 1m 42.700 |
| 16 | Mika Perez | ESP | RNF MotoE Team | 1m 42.928 |
| 17 | Maria Herrera | ESP | Openbank Aspar Team | 1m 43.070 |
