The 2026 MotoGP German Grand Prix continues on Saturday 11 July with qualifying and the sprint from the Sachsenring.
Reigning world champion Marc Marquez comes into the second day of the Sachsenring weekend having topped Friday's practice sessions on his factory Ducati.
The nine-time German Grand Prix winner was 0.166s clear of Trackhouse Aprilia's Raul Fernandez, as he was able to find the lap times he needed when he pushed his body.
But a question mark remains over his race pace. Marquez is certainly in the podium group, but he admitted on Friday that he is still slightly lacking compared to some of his rivals.
One of those rivals is VR46 Ducati's Fabio Di Giannantonio. He was third overall on Friday and is looking to close his 16-point deficit to the championship lead this weekend.
The lap record holder at the Sachsenring, Di Giannantonio will be a tough opponent for Marquez in qualifying and the sprint later today.
Aprilia's factory duo of Marco Bezzecchi - who is not 100% following his Assen crash - and Jorge Martin flew under the radar on Friday, with Fernandez looking like the most threatening of the RS-GPs at this stage.
Jack Miller stunned for Yamaha in fifth and will be one to watch in the pole shootout later on, with a strong qualifying something the Pramac rider could legitimately turn into a strong result given the lack of true horsepower sections at the Sachsenring.
Pecco Bagnaia must come through Q1 on Saturday morning, as he battled grip issues on Friday.
Today's sprint will also see the debut of new grid spacing for the start in a bid to improve safety.
2026 MotoGP German Grand Prix: Saturday schedule
FP2 - 9:10am BST - 9:40am BST
Q1 - 9:50am BST - 10:05am BST
Q2 - 10:15am BST - 10:30am BST
Sprint (15 laps) - 2pm BST
So, your 12 riders battling for pole are:
Enea Bastianini may well feel a bit miffed by that qualifying effort. He was forced to abandon a lap as he came across a slower Moreira on the racing line.
The stewards may well look into that, though Moreira did look like he was on a push lap. Let's see.
Q1 is over and Bagnaia and Quartararo have advanced to Q2.
Joan Mir will start 13th from Marini, Moreira (who will drop three places on Sunday) Binder, Bastianini, Razgatlioglu, Rins, Vinales and Crutchlow.
That looks like job done for Bagnaia and Quartararo. Nobody is threatening a strong lap with under a minute to go.
Marini was on a good lap, but it still only keeps him fourth.
Quartararo and Bagnaia have pitted. So, that's session over.
Marini improves to fourth. But the Hondas will need to dig deep if any of them have a hope of getting through to Q2.
Three minutes to go. Bagnaia and Quartararo are your top two.
That Quartararo lap is slightly quicker than the 1m19s Miller did yesterday.
Quartararo leaps up to second with a 1m19.864s.
Bagnaia finds a 1m19.753s to move 0.235s clear of the field.
Moreira stays third following Bagnaia.
A big few minutes in Bagnaia's German Grand Prix coming up now.
Bagania leaves pitlane and has Moreira on his tail again. The LCR rider clearly has his strategy to get through to Q2!
Rins hasn't had a proper lap yet. He's currently 4.2s off the pace.
Everyone is in the pits. The order with 10 minutes to go is:
Diogo Moreira has now moved into third on the LCR Honda.
Quartararo is into third on the Yamaha, but Jack Miller has proven there is a 1m19s in the M1 and it's capable of going further up the order than that.
That was Bagnaia's first 1m19s of the weekend, so that's an encouraging sign that maybe Ducati has found something to fix his rear grip woes.
First laps on the board. Bagnaia is fastest with a 1m19.954s, 0.034s clear of Mir.
The pitlane is open for the 15-minute Q1.
This will be Bagnaia's fourth appearance in Q1, and he doesn't have a great hit rate this season of getting out of the session. He's failed to advance twice.
Here is the list of riders battling for a place in Q2:
| Enea Bastianini | ITA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) |
| Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) |
| Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP26) |
| Luca Marini | ITA | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) |
| Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) |
| Joan Mir | SPA | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) |
| Diogo Moreira | BRA | Pro Honda LCR (RC213V)* |
| Maverick Viñales | SPA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) |
| Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)* |
| Alex Rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) |
| Cal Crutchlow | GBR | Castrol Honda LCR (RC213V) |
The chequered flag is out to bring FP2 to an end and Alex Marquez ended the session fastest with a 1m20.333s.
Up next, it's Q1!
FP2 standings after 20 minutes:
Alex Rins has gone down at Turn 1. Rider OK.