The Michelin® Grand Prix de France is well underway in Le Mans after an already packed and noisy Thursday that saw French motorcycle fans travel early into the race week to the Bugatti Circuit to support their favorite riders. In sunny conditions (yeah that’s right, the sky was blue on Friday in Le Mans), Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Daniel Holgado and Jacob Roulstone kicked off their French GP campaign with the morning Free Practice, followed later on by Practice 1.

Race winner last season for the 1000th Grand Prix of the championship, Daniel Holgado was heading to his team’s turf as the championship leader, with a small margin of six points on David Alonso. Eager to do 'at least' as well as in 2023, Holgado was amongst the fastest this morning as his French Grand Prix campaign kicked off. Indeed, the Spaniard was fourth fastest of Free Practice with a 1’41.838, just 1.046 seconds off the top, as Alonso set a new all-time lap record with a 1’40.470. The afternoon got warmer, and the lightweight class logically brought the lap times further down, and Holgado was one of them. His fastest lap in 1’41.056 had provisionally placed him at the top of the timesheets, but late laps from Joel Esteban and David Alonso placed the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider in third at the end of Practice 1.

Rookie Jacob Roulstone was making his debuts in the category at the Bugatti circuit, although it is a layout that the Australian had previous experience on from his years in the Red Bull MotoGP™ Rookies Cup. As Jacob started to take his marks on the French layout, he closed Free Practice in sixteenth with a lap in 1’42.295, just 1.503 seconds from the top of the timesheets, not bad for a debut. With one session already in the bag, the rookie’s sensations on his GASGAS felt pretty positive, a feeling later on confirmed in his lap times, which progressively went down through the afternoon session. The #12 improved to 1’41.453, and he closed the top 10 of the opening day of the French GP. Holgado and Roulstone will both have a provisional Q2 place to defend as the action returns on Saturday with Practice 2 at 8:40 local time (GMT+2).