Qualifying report

MotoGP German GP: Bagnaia takes pole, Marquez crashes three times

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia took pole in a dramatic MotoGP German Grand Prix qualifying as Marc Marquez suffered a hat-trick of crashes as he ended up seventh.

Q2 was run on a drying track after rain earlier this morning, with Bagnaia edging pole by 0.078 seconds as numerous riders had laps cancelled due to a spate of late crashes.

Honda’s Marc Marquez endured another miserable day at the Sachsenring following his controversial collision with Johann Zarco on Friday.

Marquez crashed in Q1 but managed to make it into the next part of qualifying alongside KTM’s Brad Binder, the pair the only riders to go for slicks in that session.

But in Q2, Marquez crashed for a second time at Turn 13 trying to avoid KTM’s Jack Miller ahead of him.

Marquez was able to re-join the session and have his sole-remaining bike repaired, but fell at Turn 1 as he began his final flying lap, leaving him in seventh – his worst qualifying at the German GP in MotoGP.

The rapidly improving track conditions meant pole position changed hands constantly throughout Q2, with Zarco setting the early pace with a 1m24.431s.

Bagnaia deposed him soon after with a 1m24.785s, before the likes of Luca Marini, Jorge Martin and Miller took turns leading the session.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

When Marquez fell at Turn 1 at the end of the session, it coincided with a tumble for Zarco at Turn 11.

This brought yellow flags out in multiple sectors, and caused chaos as a number of riders had their laps cancelled.

Marco Bezzecchi on his VR46 Ducati had gone top with a 1m21.363s on his final lap, but had this scrubbed for setting it under yellow flags.

This handed pole to Bagnaia, who posted a 1m21.409s having just avoided the yellow flags for Zarco’s crash.

Pramac’s Martin was also caught out by the yellow flags, as he was dumped from the front row to sixth.

Bagnaia ultimately pipped Marini on the sister VR46 Ducati by 0.078s, with Miller completing the top three.

Zarco held onto fourth despite his crash, with Bezzecchi and Martin completing row two.

Marquez’s miserable day ended with him in seventh ahead of his Gresini Ducati-mounted brother Alex Marquez, while Binder was ninth.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro slid down the order to 10th having briefly held a front row placement, while Enea Bastianini on the factory Ducati and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top 12.

Maverick Vinales didn’t switch to slicks at the end of Q1 and was unable to graduate into the second part of qualifying.

The Aprilia rider will go from 13th on the grid ahead of Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Tech3 GASGAS rider Augusto Fernandez.

Miguel Oliveira was 16th on the RNF Aprilia ahead of Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, Raul Fernandez (LCR) and Tech3’s Jonas Folger.

MotoGP German GP Qualifying results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'21.409
2	Luca Marini	Ducati	1'21.487	0.078	0.078
3	Jack Miller	KTM	1'21.492	0.083	0.005
4	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1'21.765	0.356	0.273
5	Marco Bezzecchi	Ducati	1'21.936	0.527	0.171
6	Jorge Martin	Ducati	1'21.995	0.586	0.059
7	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'22.013	0.604	0.018
8	Alex Marquez	Ducati	1'22.044	0.635	0.031
9	Brad Binder	KTM	1'22.047	0.638	0.003
10	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'22.222	0.813	0.175
11	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	1'22.239	0.830	0.017
12	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1'22.421	1.012	0.182
View full results