Jack Miller continued to stamp his mark on proceedings at Le Mans as he concluded a successful first day of Practice for the 2023 French MotoGP with another new benchmark in P2.

Having set the pace in the sunnier P1 session this morning, despite coming up against cooler conditions in P2, the Australian turned up the heat in the closing stages with a 1m 30.950secs effort.

The only rider to dip below 1m 31secs, Miller's performance around the French venue - where he collected a victory with Ducati in 2021 - consolidated an excellent start to the weekend for the KTM fold as a whole, in part because neither he nor Factory Racing team-mate Brad Binder suffered any offs.

Indeed, Le Mans - with its tricky camber changes and slick asphalt - lived up to its reputation as a 'bike breaker' with no less than six accidents occurring in the first 10mins of the hour-long session.

These included two of the eventual top four at the end of the session with Aleix Espargaro and Jorge Martin both recovering to second and fourth by the flag.

Marco Bezzecchi squeezed between them in third place as the best of the Ducati contingent, while Johann Zarco flew the flag for France at home in fifth.

However, this was in stark contrast to Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo, who could only watch his name drop down the order in the final minutes to end the day 12th. It means the 2021 MotoGP World Champion will have to qualify for his home event via Q1 once again.

Maverick Vinales consolidated Aprilia Racing's decent day in sixth place, ahead of Binder on the second of the KTM RC16s. Marc Marquez was a solid eighth on his return to action, even if he did all-but-destroy his Honda RC213V in the final seconds with an off at Turn 7. Though the bike was left in pieces after digging into the gravel, Marquez himself walked away unhurt.

Championship leader Pecco Bagnaia endured a tricky afternoon with more than one off-line moment, though he'd rescue ninth at the flag, ahead of Alex Marquez in the tenth and final Q2 spot.

Of those forced into tomorrow's morning's Q1 session, Luca Marini missed the cut by just 0.003secs in 11th, ahead of Quartararo and Joan Mir, the Spaniard also giving his Repsol Honda mechanics work to do after a sizeable crash early on in the session.

Augusto Fernandez enjoyed his best start to a MotoGP weekend in 15th, the Tech 3 GasGas rider sandwiched between the LCR Hondas of Alex Rins and Takaaki Nakagami.

French MotoGP | Friday Practice Results

P1 + P2 Results Combined | Le Mans | Conditions - Dry, Sunny, Cool