Gresini’s Gabriel Rodrigo dominated Moto3 FP2 for the third consecutive Friday in 2021 as he got to grips with the challenging Le Mans circuit ahead of the FrenchGP.

The Argentinian beat out fellow Honda rider, Darryn Binder and KTM’s Jaume Masia to take the session with the second Petronas of John McPhee claiming 12th at the flag. 

A damp, cold and cloudy start welcomed the Moto3 class as the FrenchGP preparations got underway in FP1 with the track registering meagre 8℃ temperatures. With wet conditions expected across the weekend, the riders were out on track as soon as the green lights allowed, in a bid to gain as much wet track experience a possible. 

Andrea Migno was the first to suffer from the conditions, with the Italian falling after hitting a damp patch under the Dunlop bridge on his out-lap, Jeremy Alcoba down at turn four moments later, with Pedro Acosta and Andi Farid Izdihar sliding out in sync at turn three and bringing the early tally to five tumbles in the opening 10 minutes.

Deniz Öncü and Dennis Foggia continued the crash-fest as Masia headed the session, 1’54.887 the time to beat so far with McPhee sitting second, 0.287s behind, and Romano Fenati a further two-tenths back, in third. 

The halfway stage saw Adrian Fernandez and Xavier Artigas come together at turn 11, as Rodrigo took charge of the times, almost a second faster than the previous best as he advanced the pace to 1’53.933. McPhee continued to challenge the leaders by again claiming second, three-tenths off, while his teammate, Binder, circulated in 16th, almost three-seconds adrift. 

13 minutes to go and Niccolò Antonelli was the next to visit the gravel, this time running off at turn eight, while Artigas endured his second crash of the morning, shortly after. A new face to the world championship, Takuma Matsuyama, had a rude awakening at turn 14 with Acosta, Kaito Toba, Lorenzo Fellon and Fenati also joining the turn-three club as the clock counted down. 

Rodrigo remained in charged as the session neared its conclusion but it was Tatsuki Suzuki who claimed second in the penultimate minute from McPhee, Migno and Masia. Binder suffering his first spill of the weekend at turn seven with Max Kofler following suit at turn 10. 

McPhee stole the show in the dying seconds with a 1’53.294 while similarly late charges from Acosta and Sergio Garcia rounded out the top-three. Rodrigo, Suzuki, Izdihar, Fernandez and Filip Salac completed the top-eight with Migno - frustrated to fall on a personal best final effort with the 17th crash of the first 40-minute session - was forced to settle for ninth. Masia sat 10th from Yuki Kunii and Artigas, while Antonelli, Riccardo Rossi and Binder concluded the morning’s top-15. 

The afternoon brought dry conditions and track temperatures in the low 20’s as the lightweight class launched its push for Q2 contention. Suzuki led the way as the session opened up - already 10-seconds faster than the morning’s outing - with Masia initially holding second before rising to the top with his fourth effort of FP2. Stefano Nepa slid into second as Fenati matched the Japanese rider’s previous best with an identical 1’43.775 time before Migno, McPhee and Binder demoted the lot to lock out the top-three with half an hour to go. 

Migno suffered his third crash of the day, this time at turn 13, while on a mission to set another fastest lap time, Masia capitalising on the incident to sit P1 until Rodrigo took charge with a 1’42.946 shortly after. A nasty highside at turn seven cut Izdihar’s practice short as the Indonesian was sent to the medical centre with Antonelli also suffering another early off as the majority of the pack returned to the pits for the mid-session lull.

Back out for their second runs, Antonelli was the first to make an impact, finding fourth ahead of Fenati, Jason Dupasquier and Ryusei Yamanaka with McPhee and Binder sitting eighth and ninth and 15-minutes left to play. 

There was little in the way of improvement as the clock clicked down until Öncü took the lead with a 1’42.595 and little over eighth minutes remaining. Rossi and Suzuki made their way back into contention, in fifth and sixth, before Ayumu Sasaki surprised the standings to second on the next revolution. The track ignited as the final five minutes played out, Dupasquier returned to fourth, Foggia sixth, with Masia and Öncü duking it out for session honours up front. 

Three minutes to go and both Petronas riders were in the danger zone as Acosta finally forced his way into the Q2 positions, taking 10th with his 14th lap of the afternoon as his teammate once again took the lead. Binder claimed third on the next lap, just as Rodrigo advanced the overall pace with the timing screens ablaze of orange for the final minute and a gaggle of riders looked to trip each other over in their bid for glory. 

McPhee sat a dangerous 14th as the chequered flag prepared to fly, the Scot seemingly without another fast lap in the tank and a nervous wait ensuing. His luck was in, however, as a number of riders had laps cancelled in the dying seconds and with a slipstream propelling him in the final sector he completed the day 12th overall. 

Rodrigo took the times with his 1’42.150 from Binder and Masia with Antonelli, Öncü, Migno and Fenati completing the top-seven. Yamanaka, Nepa, Sasaki, and Dupasquier headed McPhee with Rossi and Garcia holding the final provisional promotions heading into Saturday.