Raul Fernandez leads Germany MotoGP FP1, Marc Marquez crashes
Raul Fernandez led a tight FP1 at the MotoGP German Grand Prix
Trackhouse Aprilia MotoGP rider topped FP1 at the German Grand Prix ahead of Marc Marquez, who crashed early on in the 45-minute practice session.
The German Grand Prix weekend marks the final round before the summer break, with Trackhouse coming to the Sachsenring off the back of a maiden 1-2.
Fitting fresh tyres for the final moments of FP1, Raul Fernandez produced a 1m20.829s on a fresh medium rear to lead the session by 0.051s.
Ducati’s Marc Marquez was second in the session despite a crash at Turn 3 on just his third lap early on.
The nine-time German Grand Prix winner returned to the session to lead at one stage, before taking the chequered flag 0.051s behind Fernandez - albeit without switching to fresh rubber.
Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the top three for the VR46 Ducati team.
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi set the early pace in the session with a 1m21.798s, as he returns to action following his massive crash at the Dutch Grand Prix a few weeks ago.
Di Giannantonio then took over with a 1m21.183s on his VR46 Ducati, before Alex Marquez on the Gresini Ducati edged clear with a 1m21.002s.
With just under 25 minutes to go, Marc Marquez brushed off his early crash to hit the top of the timesheets with a 1m20.880s.
It wouldn’t be enough to keep him top of the pile come the chequered flag, with Raul Fernandez edging ahead on fresh rubber.
Neither Marquez nor Di Giannantonio switched to new tyres at the end of the session.
Fourth-placed Joan Mir did on the leading Honda, with Pramac’s Jack Miller fifth on fresh rubber at the end of FP1.
Alex Marquez remained on the one set of tyres for the duration of FP1 and was sixth, with Alex Rins using new rubber to go seventh on his factory team Yamaha.
Bezzecchi was eighth, also on used rubber, while VR46’s Franco Morbidelli was ninth despite a late crash at Turn 3.
Jorge Martin completed the top 10 on his factory team Aprilia.
Tech3 KTM’s Maverick Vinales suffered a fast crash at Turn 11 with just over half an hour of the session to go.
But he walked away from it unscathed and was 11th at the end of FP1 ahead of KTM stablemates Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini.
Pecco Bagnaia was a low-key 19th on his factory Ducati, but also elected against fresh rubber at the end of the session.
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow brought up the rear of the field following a technical issue right at the start of the session.
