French MotoE: Torres holds pole after late crash drama in Le Mans

With the MotoE class not having raced at Le Mans before, experience proved vital and Jordi Torres used his to claim E-Pole ahead of the first of two races to decide the title in France.

Though not having raced around Le Mans since 2014, Jordi Torres was immediately smooth around the track and picked up a lot of pace in the final sector on his Pons Racing 40 bike, posting a best of 1m 43.843s - a new record.

The Spaniard then had to endure a waiting game as there were seven riders still to come after posting better times in practice, but his best remained unmatched.

It marks the second time Torres, who is third in the championship but in with a shout of winning the title with just a seven point defecit, has started from pole after securing the top spot on the grid at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - he is still looking for his first race win.

He is joined on the front row for Race 1 by Matteo Ferrari. The leader in the cup standings and 2019 title winner is well placed for the race after maintaining his record of always being a top four qualifier, the consistent Trentino Gresini rider was just 0.329s off the top time.

Third on the grid went to the last rider to circle the track, Mike Di Meglio. The EG 0,0 Marc VDS man has the most recent track experience having won the Le Mans 24 hour race with Josh Hook earlier in the year. Track knowledge helped the Frenchman to a home front row start.

Hook starts fourth for Octo Pramac, with Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) dropping to fifth as the faster laps came in. The Swiss rider maximised the dry track time with fast in and out laps to his credit too.

LCR’s Niccolo Canepa posted the sixth best time, Alejandro Medina went out first but saw his lap for Openbank Aspar good enough to hold on to seventh.

Xavier Simeon disappointed after a strong practice to place eighth on the second LCR entry.

Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) and Niki Tuuli (Avant Ajo MotoE) completed the top ten.

Tommaso Marcon posted the eleventh best time for Tech 3 E-Racing, but is serving a three place grid penalty for irresponsible riding at the last round after causing the crash which took out then championship leader Aegerter.

Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) saw his distant title hopes take a dent as he fell on his qualifying lap. At almost the same time Alex De Angelis (Octo Pramac), who after announcing his retirement had been hoping to go out on a high, fell on his out lap, sending the pair to the back of the grid.