Qualifying report
MotoGP German GP
German MotoGP: Zarco takes pole from Quartararo, Marquez fifth
Pramac’s Johann Zarco snatched pole by 0.011 seconds from Fabio Quartararo despite a crash in a dramatic MotoGP German Grand Prix qualifying, while Maverick Vinales was 21st.
Lewis Duncan
Edited: Jun 21, 2021, 6:50 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Qualifying was delayed by nine minutes due to a power outage in pitlane affecting several garages, including the Honda box.
Marc Marquez set the benchmark in Q2 with a 1m20.567s, with Quartararo slotting in behind on the factory Yamaha.
However, Quartararo’s 1m20.750s was scrubbed because he exceeded track limits on the exit of the Sachsen Kurve left-hander at Turn 12.
This proved of little consequence to the Frenchman as he went top on his following lap with a 1m20.437s, which would stand as the time to beat until the closing stages.
Frustrated by traffic at the start of his second run, Quartararo dug deep in clear air and cemented his top spot with a 1m20.247s.
This was beaten immediately by Zarco on the Pramac Ducati, who improved to a 1m20.236s just seconds later.
Zarco’s charge came to an end at Turn 4 when he crashed, putting his first pole since Brno 2020 under threat.
Quartararo backed out of his final effort in the end, consigning him to second as the only Yamaha rider inside the top 15 on the grid.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro felt a strong qualifying would pave the way for a podium charge at the Sachsenring and has strengthened his hopes after scoring his first front row since Assen 2015 and Aprilia’s first in the modern MotoGP era.
Jack Miller on the factory team Ducati lit up the timing screens on his final lap having elected for a three-run strategy in Q2, but a moment at the final corner scuppered the lap and kept him in fourth ahead of Marquez.
KTM’s Miguel Oliveira completed the top six but could face questioning from the stewards for cruising on several occasions in Q2.
Jorge Martin will start seventh on his Pramac Ducati ahead of Pol Espargaro, who came through Q1 on his Honda.
A crash for LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami late on stopped him from improving on ninth, with Francesco Bagnaia 10th on his Ducati ahead of Q1 pacesetter Alex Rins (Suzuki) and the sister LCR Honda of Alex Marquez.
The major shock of Q1 came from Maverick Vinales on the factory Yamaha, who registered his worst-ever MotoGP qualifying result of 21st.
Crashing late on in FP3 and dropping into Q1, Vinales struggled all session for speed and was caught out in the latter stages by yellow flags for crashes for Franco Morbidelli and Iker Lecuona.
He will line up on the back row of the grid in 21st ahead of only Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori, who crashed the penultimate corner in Q1.
World champion Joan Mir fared little better, the Suzuki rider 17th after having a lap cancelled – though his scrubbed lap wasn’t good enough anyway to get him on par with Q1-topping teammate Alex Rins.
Brad Binder missed a place in Q2 by just 0.036 seconds on the factory KTM, with Avintia rookie Luca Marini trailing him in 14th and his teammate Enea Bastianini 15th – having copped a middle finger from Tech 3’s Danilo Petrucci for seemingly baulking him on a flying lap.
Valentino Rossi was 16th on his Petronas SRT M1 ahead of Mir, with Morbidelli only 18th after his crash at the last corner while on a quick lap.
Petrucci and Lecuona were 19th and 20th and unable to take profit of the new KTM chassis both are running this weekend.
Q2 results:
Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 5 Johann Zarco
Ducati 1'20.236 2 20 Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'20.247 0.011 3 41 Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'20.447 0.211 4 43 Jack Miller
Ducati 1'20.508 0.272 5 93 Marc Marquez
Honda 1'20.567 0.331 6 88 Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'20.589 0.353 7 89 Jorge Martin
Ducati 1'20.617 0.381 8 44 Pol Espargaro
Honda 1'20.659 0.423 9 30 Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'20.810 0.574 10 63 Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'20.811 0.575 11 42 Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'20.949 0.713 12 73 Alex Marquez
Honda 1'21.135 0.899 View full results
Q1 results:
Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 42 Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'20.644 2 44 Pol Espargaro
Honda 1'20.700 0.056 3 33 Brad Binder
KTM 1'20.736 0.092 4 10 Luca Marini
Ducati 1'20.864 0.220 5 23 Enea Bastianini
Ducati 1'20.953 0.309 6 46 Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'20.972 0.328 7 36 Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'21.014 0.370 8 21 Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'21.091 0.447 9 9 Danilo Petrucci
KTM 1'21.137 0.493 10 27 Iker Lecuona
KTM 1'21.154 0.510 11 12 Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'21.165 0.521 12 32 Lorenzo Savadori
Aprilia 1'21.411 0.767 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Suzuki: Rins doing "what we asked of him" amid crash run
Next article Mir battling “strange” braking issues in German MotoGP qualifying
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Duncan
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
Latest news
Two drivers and 20 points will determine NASCAR Trucks title at Homestead
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Martinsville
16 min
Two drivers and 20 points will determine NASCAR Trucks title at Homestead
Max Verstappen, Liam Lawson handed F1 Mexico GP grid penalties after practice clash
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
19 min
Max Verstappen, Liam Lawson handed F1 Mexico GP grid penalties after practice clash
Jorge Martin withdraws from Malaysian GP, putting MotoGP title hopes at risk
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
36 min
Jorge Martin withdraws from Malaysian GP, putting MotoGP title hopes at risk
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe