Joe Roberts continued an exceptional day in France to claim his third pole position of 2020, on his eighth lap, beating Britain’s Sam Lowes by just 0.087 seconds.

Australian Remy Gardner joins the duo on the front row for Sunday’s 25-lap race, with Jake Dixon qualifying eighth.

The final qualifying of the FrenchGP eventually got going at Le Mans after a red flag during the MotoGP FP4 saw a delay to Saturday’s proceedings.

Q1 began at 14:30 local time, coinciding nicely with tomorrow’s amended schedule and allowing the Moto2 riders to asses the track at their designated race time. The mid-afternoon temperatures providing the best conditions of the day as Thomas Luthi set the early reference point.

Kasma Daniel, a master in the wet on Friday, however, was not enjoying the drier conditions, the Malaysian falling foul of turn five and ending his day before it had really begun.

Enea Bastianini was another who seemed to struggle early on, leaving the track at turn eight before recovering to better the Swiss rider’s early mark - his 1’36.7, set on his fifth lap holding fast for the remainder of the opening 15 minute session.

Luthi, Aron Canet and a sterling effort from Fabio Di Giannantonio - still suffering as a result of Friday’s monster crash - secured progression through to Q2, Marcel Schrotter missing out in fifth.

The final shootout began with a flourish as the pack scrabbled to get out of pitlane en masse. Bastianini getting the holeshot in the times before Jorge Martin shot to the top, almost half a second clear of the Italtrans rider; the KTM going from hero to zero in a matter of moments as he found the gravel at turn three, closely followed by Jorge Navarro.

Back on track and Lowes put in consecutive efforts to find the perfect pace, sitting second after his fourth lap with Dixon directly behind in third before a spectacular performance from Luca Marini demoted the pair, the SKY rider crossing the line just 0.2s from Martin. Not one to be outdone, Lowes quickly regrouped, setting an almost record-breaking time to head the standings with two minutes to go.

Roberts finally began to show his previous stature in the closing stages as he joined the top-three, having spent the majority of the session at the bottom of the times, before advancing again at the flag with a 1’36.256 to take the pole. Lowes and Remy Gardner will join the American on the front row for Sunday’s battle, ahead of Martin, Marco Bezzecchi and Marini.

Xavi Vierge and teammate Dixon head row three from Bastianini, with Stefano Manzi, Di Giannantonio and Canet rounding out row four. Simone Corsi, Luthi, Augusto Fernandez, Hector Garzo, Marcos Ramirez and Navarro conclude the top-18 positions.