Sachsenring MotoGP: Marquez ends Friday practice on top
Honda MotoGP rider Marc Marquez ended Friday at the Sachsenring as the practice pace-setter, outpacing nearest rival Alex Rins by 0.341s in the afternoon session.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Second in the opening practice, championship leader Marquez very nearly crashed on his first push lap in FP2 after losing the front of his Honda at Turn 1 – but shrugged off this moment to post the new fastest lap of the weekend, a 1m21.113s, a few minutes later.
This left Marquez three tenths clear of Rins, before Petronas Yamaha's FP1 pace-setter Quartararo set the new benchmark just past the halfway point of the session, edging the reigning champion by just 0.013s as he overcame what had been a quarter-second deficit after two sectors.
With less than nine minutes left on the clock, Rins vaulted to the top spot courtesy of a 1m21.046s set using a new hard rear tyre.
But both Marquez and Quartararo emerged on fresh soft rear rubber right afterwards, and this allowed the former to reclaim the lead with ease through a 1m20.705s effort.
Quartararo's initial improvement was a lot more modest, as he came up just short of overhauling Rins and was then baulked by teammate Franco Morbidelli on the next lap, which left the French rookie enraged.
He couldn't improve after that, which meant Rins was secure in second place, despite himself failing to find more laptime on a soft rear tyre in the closing minutes.
Maverick Vinales was fourth, while KTM rider Pol Espargaro made it four Spaniards in the top five after following Vinales' works teammate Valentino Rossi on his fastest lap – with Rossi ending up 10th.
The injured Cal Crutchlow was sixth for LCR Honda, while Pramac's Jack Miller was the lead Ducati rider in seventh, just 0.042s and 0.047s ahead of Ducati works duo Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso respectively.
Aleix Espargaro was the top Aprilia in 11th, 0.005s behind Rossi, while Jorge Lorenzo's Repsol Honda stand-in Stefan Bradl was 0.988s off Marquez's pace in 14th.
Pramac Ducati rookie Francesco Bagnaia sat out FP2, having gone to the local hospital in Chemnitz for an MRI after complaining of a headache following his FP1 crash.
Session results
Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 93 |
Marc Marquez
|
Honda | 26 | 1'20.705 | 163.751 | ||
2 | 42 |
Alex Rins
|
Suzuki | 26 | 1'21.046 | 0.341 | 0.341 | 163.062 |
3 | 20 |
Fabio Quartararo
|
Yamaha | 23 | 1'21.065 | 0.360 | 0.019 | 163.024 |
4 | 12 |
Maverick Viñales
|
Yamaha | 23 | 1'21.193 | 0.488 | 0.128 | 162.767 |
5 | 44 |
Pol Espargaro
|
KTM | 21 | 1'21.265 | 0.560 | 0.072 | 162.623 |
6 | 35 |
Cal Crutchlow
|
Honda | 23 | 1'21.392 | 0.687 | 0.127 | 162.369 |
7 | 43 |
Jack Miller
|
Ducati | 23 | 1'21.442 | 0.737 | 0.050 | 162.270 |
8 | 9 |
Danilo Petrucci
|
Ducati | 20 | 1'21.484 | 0.779 | 0.042 | 162.186 |
9 | 4 |
Andrea Dovizioso
|
Ducati | 24 | 1'21.489 | 0.784 | 0.005 | 162.176 |
10 | 46 |
Valentino Rossi
|
Yamaha | 24 | 1'21.538 | 0.833 | 0.049 | 162.079 |
11 | 41 |
Aleix Espargaro
|
Aprilia | 19 | 1'21.543 | 0.838 | 0.005 | 162.069 |
12 | 21 |
Franco Morbidelli
|
Yamaha | 23 | 1'21.641 | 0.936 | 0.098 | 161.874 |
13 | 36 |
Joan Mir
|
Suzuki | 24 | 1'21.678 | 0.973 | 0.037 | 161.801 |
14 | 6 |
Stefan Bradl
|
Honda | 23 | 1'21.693 | 0.988 | 0.015 | 161.771 |
15 | 30 |
Takaaki Nakagami
|
Honda | 21 | 1'21.729 | 1.024 | 0.036 | 161.700 |
16 | 29 |
Andrea Iannone
|
Aprilia | 21 | 1'21.758 | 1.053 | 0.029 | 161.642 |
17 | 17 |
Karel Abraham
|
Ducati | 23 | 1'21.897 | 1.192 | 0.139 | 161.368 |
18 | 88 |
Miguel Oliveira
|
KTM | 23 | 1'21.899 | 1.194 | 0.002 | 161.364 |
19 | 5 |
Johann Zarco
|
KTM | 20 | 1'22.001 | 1.296 | 0.102 | 161.163 |
20 | 55 |
Hafizh Syahrin
|
KTM | 20 | 1'22.208 | 1.503 | 0.207 | 160.758 |
21 | 53 |
Tito Rabat
|
Ducati | 24 | 1'22.462 | 1.757 | 0.254 | 160.262 |
63 |
Francesco Bagnaia
|
Ducati | ||||||
View full results |
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