Francesco Bagnaia secured a third-straight MotoGP pole position at the Sachsenring, while Marc Marquez crashed three times during qualifying en-route to seventh.
The beginning of the Q1 session was affected by damp conditions, forcing the riders to head out on wet-weather rubber in order to get their eyes in, with the determined Marquez banging in a lap a second faster than anybody else to hold the early advantage – though further improvement was halted after he crashed at Turn 13 soon after.
A gamble to switch to slicks for he and Brad Binder ultimately proved to be an inspired choice as the duo lapped 2.6s and a second faster respectively than the wet-shod Maverick Vinales to secure the two remaining passages into the pole shootout.
By the time Q2 got underway the track had dried well enough the entire 12-man roster to bolt on slicks, even though the final bend was still fairly wet – as quickly proven by Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi as they both crashed out within a lap of each other in almost-identical high-side incidents.
It was a familiar name out in front though as Bagnaia banged in a 1:22.299s to head Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin early on, though as the track continued to improve so did the sector times of everyone behind.
A flurry of improvements swiftly followed as the final runs progressed, though a pair of yellow flag zones – for Marquez’s third crash of qualifying and Johann Zarco at Turns 1 and 11 respectively – meant improvements were impossible for the rest of the field.
Bagnaia had fortunately just managed to post his time before the yellows were shown, the Italian securing his third successive pole by just 0.078s ahead of VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini in the end.
Jack Miller completed the front row for KTM just fractions further behind, while Zarco clung onto fourth despite his crash thanks to many riders getting their laps cancelled for yellow flags – including Bezzecchi who looked good for pole before losing his best effort, forcing him to settle for fifth.
Martin also looked strong but will start sixth for both the sprint and grand prix encounters, while Marquez ensured Honda remained in the mix in seventh just ahead of brother Alex Marquez on his Gresini-run Ducati.
Brad Binder will line-up ninth on the sister factory KTM ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, while Enea Bastianini and Fabio Quartararo were hurt badly by the final yellow flag periods to be left down in 11th and 12th respectively.
Franco Morbidelli could only manage 17th on the grid at the Sachsenring having elected to remain on wets in the closing stages of Q1, the factory Yamaha pilot ahead of only LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez and GasGas’ Jonas Folger – the home hero lapping well off the pace of his peers ahead.
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