After his fifteenth place in Assen, Lorenzo could have been demoralized, but that was not the case. First he knows that the bike is good thanks to the results of Dovizioso and Petrucci, and then he gradually evolves in his understanding. He thus qualified on the second row at the Sachsenring, for the third time this year among the best six.
The weekend started modestly with twelfth place in the dry during the first session. In the wet on Friday afternoon, tenth position rewarded his efforts. It was better than at Assen (twenty-first in qualifying), but the best was yet to come.
During the third free practice session on Saturday morning, Jorge set the seventh time and therefore progressed to Q2 without any problem. In pouring rain in the afternoon, he qualified in sixth position, his second best result of the season in this exercise.
According to Jorge Lorenzo “ Today was a positive day because this morning we found something in the tune-up that allowed me to go faster, and I also had a better idea of how to ride the bike in these conditions, which allowed me to enter the top ten.
“During Q2, on a wet track, I was able to ride quite well and I reached sixth place and the second row, which is not bad. Looking back on these two days, I have to say I'm happy, because we continued to improve, both in the dry and the wet.
“Step by step, I understand the Ducati better and better. But the Sachsenring is not one of my best circuits, I have always struggled here. In the third part, I lost a lot of time. In the first and second, on the other hand, I am competitive – with the soft tires even more than with the harder ones – and I am not that far.
“Even in the wet, I don't have any big problems. I'm quite competitive on a wet track, because the Ducati offers good feeling for the tires and allows me to push a little more. Especially if there isn't that much water on the trail. But even though there is a lot of water, I am much more relaxed than last year.
“Sixth place is not a bad starting position, it's not that far from the front row and therefore a good position to start tomorrow's race. Overall it was a positive day, collecting data that will help me be faster in the future. I'm pretty happy with that.
“Tomorrow we will see what the weather conditions will be for the race, but in any case, the choice of tires will be crucial, because we will have to manage tire wear over a large number of laps. »
A few riders have decided to try out the wet conditions including JL99 ☔️ #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/HmYBgcDTVg
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) July 1, 2017
Qualification results:
1- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’27.302
2- Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.160
3- Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team - Honda RC213V - + 0.647
4- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V – + 0.787
5- Jonas Folger – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.908
6- Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.081
7- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 – + 1.100
8- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP – + 1.224
9- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 + 1.367
10- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.401
11- Maverick Vinales – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.380
12- Alvaro Bautista – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.525
13- Jack Miller – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V
14- Loris Baz – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
15- Bradley Smith – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16
16- Andrea Iannone – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR
17- Mika Kallio – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16
18- Hector Barbera – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
19- Johann Zarco – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1
20- Karel Abraham – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP
21- Sam Lowes – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP
22- Alex Rins – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR
23- Scott Redding – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
24- Tito Rabat – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V
Reference times:
Test record: 1'20.336 by Marc Marquez (Honda) in 2015
Lap record: 1'21.530 by Marc Marquez (Honda) in 2015
Best top speed: 298,2 km/h for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in 2015
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 115 points
2 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 111
3 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 108
4 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 104
5 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 87
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 77
7 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 62
8 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 60
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 58
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 51
11 Jack MILLER-Honda 40
12 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 34
13 Scott REDDING-Ducati 33
14 Loris BAZ-Ducati 31
15 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 28
16 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 23
17 Tito RABAT-Honda 23
18 Hector BARBERA-Ducati 21
19 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 20
20 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 11
