Third in FP1, 17th in FP2, Valentino Rossi knew and declared at the end of the first day of the German Grand Prix that his potential was somewhere between the two.
He proved it today by qualifying on the 2nd row, less than a tenth from his teammate Maverick Vinales and 0.262 from poleman Marc Márquez.
The Yamaha rider is therefore generally satisfied with his position on the starting grid: “It was a tough qualifying fight as often happens this year, very close. I'm quite happy to start from the second row because anyway when you start in the top 5, but also 6th, it's good for the race. Those in front of us are very strong so it’s not bad.”
He could even have done a little better but remains focused on what will undoubtedly be one of the keys to the race, namely the tires: “I could have done a little better because I left a few tenths behind. But it's not bad, and above all much better than yesterday. Now we will have to see during the race, because 30 laps will be difficult for everyone on the tires. We also need to understand the choice to make because we are still very undecided, but we have improved a lot compared to yesterday. We have improved the balance of the bike in terms of settings. Yesterday we tried something to improve the acceleration with the electronics, but it didn't work and we just went back to our base settings. Our pace isn't fantastic, but it's not bad either. It's true that, as often this year, we are all very close, so it is important to start from the second row and try to have a good start and good first laps. After that, we'll see. I think the choice of rear tire will be crucial, because it's still open and we haven't yet figured out which one is better. We must see, verify the data, work and continue working tomorrow. In my opinion, as usual, there won't be much difference between one choice and the other but we are very undecided because the race is very long and we actually have to understand which rubber will resist the most . Because 30 laps, always on the left, it won’t be easy.”
Massimo Meregalli: “It was a busy second day at the Sachsenring. As we said yesterday, we had some work to do on the set-up and tire specifications for the race, which kept us busy during today's two practice sessions. Maverick showed confidence from the start of Q2 and it was nice to see him hold on to provisional pole until three minutes before the end. It's a shame he wasn't able to improve his time even further during his second run. Valentino experienced the opposite: he struggled to get into the 1'20s on his first attempt, but managed to climb up to sixth position on the second. The fact that both drivers finished on the second row is not a bad result, especially considering that this circuit is not an easy place to overtake. We still expect a tough race. We are looking to take one more step before tomorrow's warm-up in preparation for the race."
German Grand Prix Sachsenting MotoGP J.2: Chronos
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'20.270 | ||
| 2 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'20.295 | 0.025 | 0.025 |
| 3 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'20.327 | 0.057 | 0.032 |
| 4 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'20.441 | 0.171 | 0.114 |
| 5 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'20.444 | 0.174 | 0.003 |
| 6 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'20.532 | 0.262 | 0.088 |
| 7 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'20.675 | 0.405 | 0.143 |
| 8 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'20.682 | 0.412 | 0.007 |
| 9 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'20.700 | 0.430 | 0.018 |
| 10 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'20.831 | 0.561 | 0.131 |
| 11 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'20.847 | 0.577 | 0.016 |
| 12 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'20.938 | 0.668 | 0.091 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'20.751 | ||
| Q2 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'20.963 | 0.212 | 0.212 |
| 13 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'20.972 | 0.221 | 0.009 |
| 14 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'21.059 | 0.308 | 0.087 |
| 15 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'21.183 | 0.432 | 0.124 |
| 16 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'21.242 | 0.491 | 0.059 |
| 17 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'21.287 | 0.536 | 0.045 |
| 18 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'21.460 | 0.709 | 0.173 |
| 19 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'21.546 | 0.795 | 0.086 |
| 20 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 1'21.749 | 0.998 | 0.203 |
| 21 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'21.802 | 1.051 | 0.053 |
| 22 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | 1'22.012 | 1.261 | 0.210 |
| 23 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'22.159 | 1.408 | 0.147 |
| 24 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | 1'22.709 | 1.958 | 0.550 |
