MotoGP Germany FP3 LIVE: Francesco Bagnaia repeats! Helmet problem for Fabio Quartararo.

On a Sachsenring circuit so far branded by the Honda driver Marc Marquez, it was an all-Ducati top 3 that won during the first day of the Liqui Moly Motorrad German Grand Prix, Francis Bagnaia  (Ducati Lenovo Team) ahead Luca marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team). We even find 5 in the first 6 places… 

Francis Bagnaia, from the Ducati Lenovo team, toured 1'20.018 to set a new Sachsenring record, while Ducati locked the first three places in the afternoon and in the general classification. Even if the winding track of the Sachsenring has not always suited the Bologna riders, it seems that times are changing since the Ducati Lenovo Team had already achieved a double during FP1, Jack Miller leading the charge with a time of 1'21.479 and ahead of Francis Bagnaia by a little more than a tenth.

The opposite operation took place in the afternoon in FP2, Luca Marini however managing to insert himself between the two Borgo Panigale officials and also being one of the two drivers who have already broken the old record of the absentee Marc Marquez.

6th in the morning and 4th in the afternoon, Alex Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) was the best of the other drivers, but the French were also solid, particularly Johann zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) 5th in FP1 and 4th in FP2. fabio quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), who had the new swingarm on his YZR-M1, was not far behind either, 3rd in the morning and 7th in FP2.

George Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing), Fabio DiGiannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Joan mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) complete a top 10 which will have to defend its positions during this expected cooler and possibly more efficient FP3.

Note that a good number of riders worked on aerodynamics during this first German day, whether at Ducati where the “small” fairing works wonders on this type of track, at Honda where Espargaro Pol et Stefan bradl continued to test the model offering less downforce, at Suzuki with a new configuration and especially at Aprilia where Alex Espargaro tested a new, noticeably widened lower fairing.

The last 5 minutes of FP2:

While waiting to discover more, as the 24 drivers prepare for this third 45-minute free practice session, with clear skies and temperatures of 27° in the air and 34° on the ground, let's take advantage of these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here are the past references:

Sachsenring MotoGP™	2021	2022
FP1	1'21.660 Marc Marquez (See here)	1'21.479 Jack Miller (See here)
FP2	1'20.690 Miguel Oliveira (See here)	1'20.018 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
FP3	1'20.348 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'19.765 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
FP4	1'21.397 Johann Zarco (See here)
Q1	1'20.644 Alex Rins (See here)
Q2	1'20.236 Johann Zarco (See here)
Warm Up	1'21.341 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Course	Marquez, Oliveira, Quartararo (See here)
All time lap record	1'20.195 Marc Márquez (2019) (See here)	1'19.765 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)

When the red lights go out... like since the start of the weekend, it's Joan mir who rushes first while fabio quartararo continues the tradition by letting everyone go in front.

In terms of tires, all the tires are out…

From his first turn, fabio quartararo shoots straight without consequence in the gravel while Luca marini registered the first reference in 1'21.619.

In the next passage, Alex Espargaro, in 1'21.094, precedes Marco Bezzecchi, John Zarco but fabio quartararo has already returned to fourth position.

Marco Bezzecchi minor fall at turn 12 while Francis Bagnaia registered 1'20.690 at the top of the table.

Miguel Oliveira then recalls his good performance last year by positioning himself second in front Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaro and Fabio Quartararo.

After 10 minutes, when the drivers are already returning to their boxes, the hierarchy is made up of Francesco Bagnaia, Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaro, Marco Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin, Joan Mir, Franco Morbidelli, Takaaki Nakagami, Luca Marini, Brad Binder, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Andrea Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro, Maverick Vinales, Enea Bastianini, Alex Marquez, Remy Gardner, Stefan Bradl, Alex Rins, Darryn Binder and Raul Fernandez but alone Miguel Oliveira et Andrea Dovizioso improved their times compared to yesterday.

On resumption, Maverick Vinales rose to fourth and then third position, before Brad Binder is positioned 5th.

Miguel Oliveira then achieves the best time of the session in 1'20.554, which allows him to enter the top 10 in the combined and to exclude it for the moment Joan Mir...

At the start of the last quarter of an hour, Joan mir reacted with a soft rear tire and first achieved the second fastest time of the session before registering 120549, the best time of the session which allowed him to re-enter the top 10 in the combined!

Two minutes later, Alex Espargaro produced his effort in turn and achieved 1'20.013, the new absolute record for the circuit! The Aprilia rider continued his momentum in 1'20.007 despite being hampered by Franco Morbidelli, which makes the Catalan furious…

fabio quartararo reacts well and positions itself second, only 31/1000 behindAlex Espargaro but Francis Bagnaia breaks the 1'20 mark before registering 1'19.765 on the next pass, a new circuit record!

As we enter the boxes one last time to prepare for the final confrontation, the combined hierarchy is now made up of Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Aleix Espargaro, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Luca Marini, Takaaki Nakagami, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco and Miguel Oliveira.

The final rush sees first Jack Miller move up to second position in the session before being immediately dethroned by Alex Espargaro.

Alex Marquez makes a minor mistake at turn #9.

fabio quartararo, whose visor has come off, sees all his chances of improving reduced to nothing. The Frenchman enters his box and leaves with his second helmet, at the last second, to do his starting test!

Takaaki Nakagami fall at high speed at turn #1.

Johann zarco improves significantly by positioning itself fourth.

FP3 results of the MotoGP German Grand Prix at Sachsenring:

FP1/FP2/FP3 results from the MotoGP German Grand Prix at Sachsenring:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com