Filip Salac was 3^rd and Jake Dixon 4^th in an action-packed first day at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

The Le Mans Circuit is the scene of the French Grand Prix for the 26^th straight year. As usual, the fans showed up in their tens of thousands on Friday to watch the start of the 6^th round of 2025.

Spits of rain were falling in the morning, but conditions thankfully remained dry for both of the day’s Moto2 sessions. Practice even took place in warm ambient temperatures of 19 degrees.

The afternoon Practice session was red flagged due to Alex Escrig’s crash at T14 dragging gravel onto the racing line. The track then reopened allowing the Moto2 field to complete the final 5 minutes of their session.

Jake Dixon, 4^th – 1’35.189

The day started well for Jake. Despite running off track at Garage Vert toward the end of FP1, he recovered to set the 2^nd fastest time, just 0.1s off P1.

The Briton was immediately on the pace in Practice as he traded fastest times early on with Manuel Gonzalez. In Jake’s early 15-lap run, 9 of his times were in the 1’35s, which is a very competitive rhythm.

Despite a late fall at Garage Vert – his second of the day at that turn – Jake ended the day 4^th fastest, just 0.4s off the fastest ever Moto2 lap set at this circuit.

“It was a positive day one here in France. I just tried to get in the groove early on today and we were pretty fast right away. I felt good in the afternoon but, unfortunately, I had a small crash at the end of Practice. I was coming in fast, pushing to improve my lap time when I went off track. It’s a shame but it’s one of those things. Otherwise, it was a pretty good day. We’re working step-by-step at the moment and I’m trying to improve a few things with my riding. We’ll go again tomorrow and aim for a good qualifying session. Let’s see what we can do.”

Filip Salac, 3^rd – 1’35.189

Around one of his favourite circuits, Filip started the weekend well by setting the 8^th fastest time in FP1.

The Czech rider was running fast, consistent times at the start of Practice. But as he sat 2^nd he ran in to some mechanical issues, which caused him to pit.

Filip was then forced to abort his final run when exiting pit lane as the problems persisted.  Despite that, the 23-year old was still able to finish just 0.3s off the fastest time of the day.

“It was a good Friday here in Le Mans. To be honest, I expected us to be fast here because it’s a track where I’ve scored podiums in the past. In FP1 my feeling with the bike wasn’t perfect. But we made a big change to the set-up for Practice. The bike was then amazing. What I was missing in the morning in terms of feeling was immediately fixed, so it was a really good job done by the mechanics. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the second outing with new tyres to improve my lap time because we had an issue with the bike. We need to fix that for tomorrow. But the pace before that was good and I feel confident. We’re still missing one or two small things. But, overall, it’s looking good.”