The early stages of the 2nd quarter qualifying session unfolded a pole battle between Banya and Quartararo, but the first escaped Yamaha racer to win the poles in 2022.
Ducati Bagnaia set the starting point at 1 m30.910 s, ahead of Quartaroro by 0.300 seconds before the Italian improved to 1 m30.699 s.
But Quartararo will give 1m30.688s with just under 10 minutes of 15-minute shootout to cross Bagnaia at just 0.011s.
Both riders lit up the timing screens during their second runs, but Banyaya pressed on top form to regain first place in the two minutes left with 1 min30,450 s.
Teammate Jack Miller watched him to jump to second place, the Australian missed 0.069 seconds.
Quartararo was quick when he started his last lap but reduced the time for the rest of the tour and could do nothing to improve his previous 1m30,688 s.
When Aprilia’s Oil Espargara climbed to third place and finished third in the front row, Quaternary topped the second row in the fourth after returning home as world champion and current standings leader.
Aenea Bastiani of Gresini Ducati finished the top five, making a few pushes to the pole, while second-home favorite Johan Zarco became sixth on his Pramac Ducati.
The Frenchman may be drawn to the stewards after Q2 after he prevented Paul Espargar at the Dunlop chic while the Honda rider was on the push lap late.
Joan Mir went through in the 1st quarter to beat Suzuki teammate Alex Rins, finishing seventh, while 1st quarter manager Jorge Martin was ninth at Pramac Ducati.
Mark Marquez made a mistake on his last lap in the chic Dunlop and could not do anything better than 10th place, 0.698 seconds from the pace, followed by Honda teammate Paul Espargara and Takaaki Nakagami of the LCR.
Newcomer VR46 Mark Bezzeki rallied in the final stages of the 1st quarter after a horrific transition through the second turn, but he was denied a pole shootout session for 0.007 seconds.
The Italian was ahead of Maverico Vinales of Aprilia, who on his Ducati VR46 2021 specification was about 0.331 seconds behind Bezzeki.
Sister VR46 motorcycle Luke Marini starts 15th, ahead of newcomer Gresini Fabio Di Gianantoni, and the infamous French Grand Prix KTM will continue with disappointing qualifiers for all its riders.
Miguel Oliveira was leading the RC16 in 17th place, ahead of teammate Brad Binder, while duo Tech 3 Remy Gardner and injured Raul Fernandez were 22nd and last respectively.
Franco Marbideli of Yamaha was disappointed on the 19th, feeling he had taken a step forward in understanding the factory M1 on Friday in Le Mans, while Andrea Davisioza of RNF Racing followed him on the 20th.
Alex Marquez of LCR and Darin Binder of RNF will start 21st and 23rd.
The 2022 French Grand Prix of MotoGP is scheduled to start on Sunday at 14:00 local time (13:00 BST).
Results of the French MotoGP Grand Prix – 2nd quarter:
Results of the French MotoGP Grand Prix – 1st quarter:
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