German MotoGP, Sachsenring - Free Practice (2) Results

* Rookie

Key:
^X Rider is X positions higher than FP1.
= Rider is same position as FP1.
˅X Rider is X positions lower than FP1.

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)

Francesco Bagnaia leads an all-Ducati top three during Friday practice for the 2022 German MotoGP at Sachsenring.

Team-mate Jack Miller had got the better of Bagnaia this morning, but the Australian's 1m 21.479s FP1 best was soon broken this afternoon, by Aleix Espargaro, riding with the new Aprilia fairing.

The Spaniard, eager to make amends for his Barcelona blunder, kept the RS-GP on top until Miller struck back with a soft-tyre time attack with five minutes to go.

The rest of the field followed on new soft rubber, Espargaro and Jorge Martin both getting to within 0.064s of Miller's best, before Bagnaia vaulted to the top by 0.079s.

The Italian then improved further to secure Friday honours with a new lap record of 1m 20.018s, while VR46's Luca Marini split the red machines to take second ahead of Miller.

Espargaro was the only non-Ducati in the top six, at a tight and twisty circuit that in the past punished the Desmosedici's lack of turning.

Suzuki's Joan Mir debuted the new GSX-RR fairing upgrade, featuring side pods, to feature in third place before losing ground in the time attacks and dropping to tenth (+0.556s).

Just behind Mir was team-mate Alex Rins, who also made a brief appearance inside the top three this afternoon despite riding with a broken left wrist from Barcelona and suffering a fall this morning.

Joining Rins in being outside provisional direct access to Qualifying 2 are the likes of Takaaki Nakagami, Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaro - who suffered two falls at Turn 1 this morning, a lowside then a nasty highside.

Miguel Oliveira was the best KTM in just 17th.

Already sunny and hot, temperatures are expected to rise further throughout the weekend, prompting riders to move from the medium rubber this morning to hard tyres this afternoon.

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 the 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