German MotoGP, Sachsenring - Free Practice (4) Results

* Rookie

Fastest practice time:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 19.765s

Official Sachsenring MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 19.765s (2022)
Fastest race lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 21.228s (2019)

Fabio Quartararo halted Ducati's dominance of the German MotoGP weekend by moving to the top of the timesheets during final practice at the Sachsenring.

After a lengthy delay due to a power cut at the track, riders finally began long runs on the medium and especially hard rear tyres in preparation for Sunday's race. The medium suffers a bigger drop in grip, but potentially has better ultimate performance than the hard if it can be used carefully over the full 30 laps.

But it was the front tyre that soon caught out several of this weekend's frontrunners.

First, Aleix Espargaro fell just in front of his Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales at Turn 13. Ducati's Jack Miller then made a near-identical mistake moments later (and is under investigation for falling under a yellow flag), followed by a trip through the gravel for team-mate and new lap record holder Francesco Bagnaia.

Bagnaia and Miller soon overcame their stumbles, while title leader Quartararo swiftly moved to the top. The Yamaha rider, who switched from the hard to medium rear during the half-hour session, had spoken of lacking early speed on the hard tyre on Friday and was hoping, as last weekend in Barcelona, grip levels would increase substantially on Saturday.

Behind Quartararo (hard) and Bagnaia (hard), Joan Mir (medium), Miller (hard), Franco Morbidelli (medium) and Miguel Oliveira (hard) - currently the subject of multiple rumours over his MotoGP future - impressed to complete the top six.

By contrast, Aprilia's Espargaro remained down in 16th, leaving Vinales as the top RS-GP in eighth.

After attempting to return from a broken wrist, Mir's Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins withdrew from the remainder of the event following this morning's FP3 and will now set his sights on being fit for Assen next weekend.

Qualifying 1, for those outside the top ten after third free practice, including Pol Espargaro and Enea Bastianini, will now get underway.

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.

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