German MotoGP, Sachsenring - Free Practice (1) Results

* Rookie
Official Sachsenring MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 20.195s (2019)
Fastest race lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 21.228s (2019)

Ducati's Jack Miller leads opening practice for the 2022 German MotoGP at a bright and sunny Sachsenring, his first track session since confirming a switch to KTM next season.

Barcelona podium finisher and last year's Sachsenring pole qualifier Johann Zarco set the early pace, before Miller and reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo moved ahead by the halfway point of the 45 minutes.

Francesco Bagnaia then made it a Ducati Lenovo one-two behind team-mate Miller on the brink of the final ten minutes.

Takaaki Nakagami made a strong comeback from the turn 1 Catalunya disaster with fifth place for LCR Honda.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales officially debuted the new Aprilia fairing, seen at the Barcelona test, on their way to sixth and eleventh respectively.

The top 15 riders were covered by less than half-a-second this morning.

Andrea Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro and the already injured Alex Rins all fell in quick succession at turn one during the middle stages of the session.

Rins, whose left wrist remains fractured from Barcelona, did not take any further part in the session. Espargaro returned only to suffer yet another Turn 1 fall, this time a nasty highside, while Dovizioso recovered to eighth (on new rubber).

Medium tyres, front and rear, were the favoured choice of compounds in FP1.

This weekend will see a new winner of the German MotoGP for the first time since 2013, with Marc Marquez - unbeaten at the Sachsenring since the 125cc class in 2011 - absent from the event as he continues to recover from a fourth operation on his right arm. Marquez is again replaced by HRC test rider and home Sachsenring hero Stefan Bradl.

Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo leads the MotoGP standings by 22 points over Aleix Espargaro, after victory in Catalunya was combined with a last-lap blunder by the Aprilia rider.

But the pair have both now pulled clear of triple 2022 race winner Enea Bastianini, whose third DNF in five races has left the Gresini Ducati rider 53 from Quartararo, with Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) close behind.

Bastianini’s crew chief Alberto Giribuola is absent this weekend due to Covid. Gresini technical coordinator Sergio Verbena is standing in as his replacement.

Over at Pramac Ducati, Jorge Martin is riding for the first time since surgery to solve a nerve problem in his right hand.

Bagnaia and Alex Rins were taken out by Takaaki Nakagami’s scary turn one accident at the Barcelona race. Rins (who suffered a wrist fracture) and Nakagami (kept in hospital overnight) both missed the post-race test as a result of the incident, but are back in action this weekend.

Sachsenring is the shortest and slowest circuit on the MotoGP calendar, being just 3.7km in length and with a longest straight of 700m. The circuit also has a heavy anti-clockwise bias of 10 left hand corners, compared to 3 right turns, one of them being the infamous ‘waterfall’ downhill plunge at Turn 11.

Sachsenring also marks the midway point of the planned 20-round world championship season.

2022 German Grand Prix – MotoGP schedule (UK Time)

Friday 17 June

8am - 8.40am - Moto3 Free Practice 1

8.55am - 9.40am - MotoGP Free Practice 1

9.55am - 10.35am - Moto2 Free Practice 1

12.15pm - 12.55pm - Moto3 Free Practice 2

1.10pm - 1.55pm - MotoGP Free Practice 2

2.10pm - 2.50pm - Moto2 Free Practice 2

Saturday 18 June

8am - 8.40am - Moto3 Free Practice 3

8.55am - 9.40am - MotoGP Free Practice 3

9.55am - 10.35am - Moto2 Free Practice 3

11.35am - 11.50am - Moto3 Qualifying 1

12pm - 12.15pm - Moto3 Qualifying 2

12.30pm - 1pm - MotoGP Free Practice 4

1.10pm - 1.25pm - MotoGP Qualifying 1

1.35pm - 1.50pm - MotoGP Qualifying 2

2.10pm - 2.25pm - Moto2 Qualifying 1

2.35pm - 2.50pm - Moto2 Qualifying 2

Sunday 19 June

8am - 8.10am - Moto3 warm-up

8.20am - 8.30am - Moto2 warm-up

8.40am-9am - MotoGP warm-up

10am - Moto3 race

11.20am - Moto2 race

1pm - MotoGP race