German MotoGP: Marc Marquez tops FP1 from Quartararo

This weekend’s German GP marks MotoGP’s first visit to the country since 2019 after last year’s event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ducati’s Jack Miller set the initial benchmark with a 1m23.367s as the Italian marque comes to a track it hasn’t won at since 2008 and hasn’t stood on the podium at since 2016.

For the last 10 years Honda has been the dominant force at the Sachsenring, with Marc Marquez unbeaten across all classes at the venue since 2010.

The six-time MotoGP world champion expected on Thursday this weekend’s German GP to be his first of the season “without physical limitations”, and backed this up in the early stages of FP1 by going top with a 1m22.348s.

With the circuit featuring only three right corners where Marquez has struggled this year with his arm and shoulder, Marquez continued to improve at the top of the timesheets with a 1m21.660s.

At one stage Marquez – who is running a new aero fairing in Germany - led a Honda 1-2-3 ahead of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami and factory team-mate Pol Espargaro, though Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo would split up the Hondas in second in the latter stages.

The championship leader’s session was interrupted briefly 10 minutes in when he crashed at the Sachsen Kurve left-hander at the bottom of the hill at Turn 12.

Quartararo initially appeared to have hurt his right shoulder, but was able to re-join the action soon after.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing crash

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez’s lap time came under no threat through to the chequered flag, the Honda rider ending the morning 0.168 seconds clear of Quartararo.

Nakagami completed the top three ahead of the Espargaro brothers, Pol – who crashed early on at Turn 2 - leading Aprilia-mounted Aleix.

Miller was the first of the Ducati riders in sixth, 0.391s off the pace, with Alex Rins an encouraging seventh on the Suzuki has he returns to action after breaking his arm in a cycling accident in Barcelona and missing the Catalan GP.

Johann Zarco on the Pramac Ducati, world champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales completed the top 10, with Francesco Bagnaia just missing out in 11th on his Ducati ahead of Barcelona race winner Miguel Oliveira on the KTM.

Brad Binder was 1.3s off the pace in last on the sister factory KTM as he got to grips with Sachsenring on a MotoGP bike, the South African trailing Tech3’s Iker Lecuona, who – along with team-mate Danilo Petrucci in 18th – have the new KTM chassis for the first time.

Valentino Rossi was a low-key 20th on his Petronas SRT Yamaha, with team-mate Franco Morbidelli 14th sandwiched between Avintia rookies Luca Marini in 13th and Enea Bastianini in 15th.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin was the only other faller in the session, the rookie taking a tumble early on at the Sachsen Kurve on his way to 19th on the timesheets.

MotoGP German GP - FP1 results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Marc Marquez	Honda	25	1'21.660
2	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	20	1'21.828	0.168
3	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	22	1'21.936	0.276
4	Pol Espargaro	Honda	19	1'22.010	0.350
5	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	19	1'22.040	0.380
6	Jack Miller	Ducati	22	1'22.051	0.391
7	Alex Rins	Suzuki	19	1'22.076	0.416
8	Johann Zarco	Ducati	22	1'22.148	0.488
9	Joan Mir	Suzuki	22	1'22.172	0.512
10	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	25	1'22.253	0.593
11	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	25	1'22.260	0.600
12	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	22	1'22.324	0.664
13	Luca Marini	Ducati	22	1'22.364	0.704
14	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	24	1'22.381	0.721
15	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	20	1'22.477	0.817
16	Alex Marquez	Honda	24	1'22.537	0.877
17	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	21	1'22.612	0.952
18	Danilo Petrucci	KTM	23	1'22.646	0.986
19	Jorge Martin	Ducati	18	1'22.678	1.018
20	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	23	1'22.691	1.031
21	Iker Lecuona	KTM	24	1'22.728	1.068
22	Brad Binder	KTM	23	1'22.969	1.309
View full results