GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, Sachsenring: Qualifying roundup – MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3
Marc Marquez secures pole for German GP – The Repsol Honda rider’s 1’20.336 lap was enough to net him first position on the grid for this weekend’s MotoGP™ battle.
This is Marc Marquez’s 6th consecutive pole at the Sachsenring, leading to victory for the Spaniard for the last 5 years in a row. He said: “We will try for six wins, the most important thing is the confidence with the bike is really high. In this circuit I always get good results but this weekend I feel good and I’m constant. I was also fast over one lap so I’m happy, also happy with the work that we have done. Tomorrow is the most important so we have to keep on like this.” Joining him on the front row are his team mate Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha).
Second place on the grid is Pedrosa’s best qualifying result of the season: “Yeah, I was happy with my first feeling in the first run but Crutchlow didn’t see me and ruined my lap. Unfortunately I had to stop and change tyres and I wasn’t sure if we could do it on the second tyre because sometimes you don’t get the same feeling. Actually I produced a good lap and to get the front row at this track is very important. Hopefully we can make a little step tomorrow as Marquez’s pace is very high and we’re still missing a little. Hopefully we can make a good start and make the right tyre choice, which will be critical.”
After starting from 8th in Assen, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha) is back on qualifying form but concerned by the pace show by the Repsol Honda duo: “Impressive, it seems the Honda has no problems. They’re able to brake later and accelerate very soon. It will be tough to stay with them, I am the first Yamaha to do a 1’20 in this track so I am very happy with this lap time. I did my best and I didn’t get even close to them. I think our goal is to try to get the podium, the victory will be difficult but you never know. The podium is definitely achievable.”
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) will start from 4th place, with Yonny Hernández (Octo Pramac Racing) in a very respectable 5th after having to fight his way through Q1. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) completes the second row in 6th.
The Espargaro brothers will have a chance to wish each other luck before the lights go out, given that they start together on the third row with Aleix (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in 7th and Pol (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in 8th.
Rounding out the top 10 are British riders Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda), who start from 9th & 10th respectively.
The MotoGP action continues on July 12 at 09:40 local time with the warm up session, with the race to start at 14:00.
Moto2
A lap time of 1’24.044 earned Johan Zarco his fourth pole position of the season. He will be hoping to break away early in the race, but expects a fight: “We’ve had to work hard because yesterday we were not so fast. I also try to understand my strength and weaknesses. The pace for the race was good in the morning and our first target is to win the race tomorrow. We have to stay focused tomorrow because I think the race will be quite hard. I’ll try and break away but maybe we will have to fight with the others – I’ve enjoyed fighting this year.”
Xavier Simeón (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) makes a return to the front row – his last front row start was at the Americas GP when he took pole: “I think I can be strong in the race, we had a good pace in the morning and we rode well in Qualifying.I have good feeling with the bike and I think we can fight for the podium, but so can a lot of other riders as the lap time is very close. It’s four or five races we’ve fought for the top five but we’ve been lacking that last step to fight for the podium, hopefully we can make it today.
For Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team), this is only his second ever podium, having started from 3rd in Valencia in 2014: “I push very hard, it has been a pretty good lap. I had to do it a bit before the end because at the end everyone is looking for a tow so it was easier to set a lap time earlier. The important thing is the pace and it’s pretty good. Looking forward to tomorrow.”
Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Intewetten) will start from 4th place, with Simone Corsi (Athiná Forward Racing) and Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) joining him on the second row in 5th and 6th respectively.
German riders Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Jonas Folger (AGR Team) will start from 7th and 8th, with Brit Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing) in 9th. Mika Kallio (Italtrans Racing Team) completed the top ten.
The Moto2 action continues on July 12 at 09:10 local time with the warm up session, with the race to start at 12:20.
Moto3
Danny Kent overshadows all to claim pole – The Leopard Racing rider laps the Sachsenring over 0.5 sec faster than the rest of the pack to take pole.
The Brit rider crashed out of the session on Turn 6, taking wild card rider and local boy Maximilian Kappler (SaxoPrint RTG) out with him. Amazingly this was Danny Kent’s first crash of the season so far, but clearly Danny needn’t worry. Even after missing the last 15 minutes of the session, none of the other riders were able to get close to his pace, leaving us to wonder how many tenths he might of been able to shave off if given the chance. After the session Kent stated that his crash was caused by a new rear tyre being used with an old front, resulting in the front pushing too much.
Joining the Brit on the front row are Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) and Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Bastianini was denied his 3rd pole position in a row today, the Italian having claimed pole in Catalunya and Assen. This is also the second front row start in a row for Hanika, having started from 3rd in Assen to finish the race in 8th.
French rookie Fabio Quartararo (Estrella Galicia 0,0) will start from 4th on the grid, ahead of Efrén Vázquez (Leopard Racing) in 5th. Vazquez ended the session 0.585 sec off the pace set by his team mate Kent.
Andrea Locatelli (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) claimed 6th on the grid and will be followed by Spaniards Jorge Martín (Mapfre Team Mahindra) and Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0) in 7th and 8th respectively.
That leaves Niccolò Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold) and Niklas Ajo (RBA Racing Team) to round out the top ten. It was an interesting session for Finnish rider Ajo once again. He followed up his spectacular save in Assen with a rather spectacular crash here at the Sachsenring. He ran in to the back of team mate Ana Carrasco on the last corner – Ana wasn’t lapping at full pace at the time, possibly with the intention of entering the pits after the turn.
Miguel Oliveira was conspicuous by his absence, as he unfortunately suffered a high side at turn 1 during FP1, ending his German GP weekend.
The Moto3 action continues on July 12 at 08:40 local time with the warm up session, with the race due to start at 11:00.
Source: motogp.com