Two of the Australian’s four MotoGP victories have come in wet races, one of those being at Le Mans in 2021.
Thunderstorms are forecast today for the region, albeit more likely in the evening rather than mid-afternoon, when the 27-lap race is due to get underway at 14:00 local time.
However, Meteo France, the nation’s official meteorological agency, has a thunderstorm warning active for the whole day.
If the heavens do open a little earlier than expected, then the #43 KTM will be one to watch from Row 4 of the starting grid.
He was the only rider to select the soft Michelin slick on the front but highlighted exit drive as an area to work on after struggling to bring the soft rear up to temperature.
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“I got a good start but I was a bit gentle into Turn 3 and got baulked,” recounted ‘Jackass’.
“The bike was working decently but the rear tyre temperature took some time to come up and didn’t really come back to me for five, six laps.
“The other guys could start the acceleration phase out of the corners a bit earlier so we’ll look at that for tomorrow but the front end of the bike worked really well.
“We’ve got some information to go over tonight. We’ll have to wait and see for the weather now.”
Rookie Pedro Acosta led the way for the KTM/GasGas contingent in sixth position, while Brad Binder could only get up to 15th after starting dead last on his Red Bull KTM.
“I just couldn’t get going in the Sprint after a decent start,” lamented the South African.
“I made a few mistakes and had a lot of front locking. I went off the track at one point. It was a struggle.
“It was important to collect some data for tomorrow because I felt great on Friday… but kept crashing! It was crucial not to do that again today.
“We found something that gives us a good idea for the race. I’m looking for tiny things, and tiny differences will go a long way at the moment.”
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager Francesco Guidotti said, “Not the best quali we’ve had but Jack was performing quite well.
“He didn’t make his best lap in Q2 for a few reasons, like yellow flags, and it could have been better but still an improvement on some other GPs this year.
“With Brad we had a technical issue in Q1. It was not a failure or malfunction but something was not running right so he preferred the second bike and just found more yellow flags.
“Starting from where he was meant we couldn’t expect much. The front tyre pressure was going to the moon and he could not ride like he wanted.
“We took some points from the Sprint with Jack, and let’s see tomorrow because it looks like it will be wet.”
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