MotoGP
Published on June 16, 2023 • 15:03 by Marc Sériau

MotoGP Germany P2 LIVE: Johann Zarco makes a miraculous escape! Marco Bezzecchi sets the tone…

The German MotoGP Grand Prix at the Sachsenring…

The place where Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), with 11 victories on the circuit in all categories, has written an invincible record in every race since winning the 125cc race in 2010 by 17 seconds…
The place where Francis Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) had a record deficit of 91 points on Sunday evening last season…
The place where Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) scored its last victory last year and then had a comfortable lead of 34 points in the championship ahead of Alex Espargaro (Aprilia Racing)…

In one year, how much things have changed!

A pole and a podium during the very first Sprint race in Portugal, a narrow failure at Le Mans then at Mugello despite great competitiveness, the 2023 results are still poor for the star driver of the Repsol Honda team who also missed three of the six meetings gone: will he be able to make the big recovery on the German anti-clockwise circuit? We wish him, just as Honda should wholeheartedly wish, deprived of alex rins et Joan mir in Germany.

Conversely, Francis Bagnaia arrives in Saxony with 21 points ahead of Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), the talented Italian hopeful who made a bit of a mark during his national GP. Better, " Pecco » had a dream weekend at home, with pole position, circuit record, victory in the Sprint and the GP! Enough to perpetuate confidence for those whose results are particularly “on/off”, even if Ducati has not won at the Sachsenring since 2008 (with Casey Stoner).

fabio quartararo continues an opposite trajectory, with increasingly frequent passages in Q1 compromising his races in advance, especially on a bike/front tire combo that makes it difficult for him to overtake. The Devil and Yamaha no longer have a choice, we must close ranks and begin fundamental work to overcome a potentially quite slippery slope...

The ultra domination of Ducati, the progression of KTM, the disappointment at Aprilia, the transparency at Yamaha and the Bérézina for Honda, finally in this rather moving panorama, the stable element could well be called Johann zarco (Prima Pramac Racing), 4th and 3rd in Italy before arriving across the Rhine on a circuit where he is the only MotoGP™ rider not called Marc Marquez to have started from pole position in Germany when the number 93 was on the grid. He has achieved some good results there, starting with his 2nd place last year which placed him 5th in the championship, exactly the position he currently occupies…

This morning in P1, Johann Zarco, Marc Márquez, Aleix Espargaro, Alex Márquez, Jorge Martin, Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder, Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi have pre-qualified for Q2.

The weekend weather? We hardly dared to talk about it anymore, as the predictions concerning Mugello ultimately turned out to be so far from reality...

... but ultimately, at least for today, they were hardly wrong and it is a track that is still very wet at 21° that the 20 MotoGP riders will cover under a sky that still drops a few drops on the asphalt of the Sachsenring including the Long Lap is now at turn #13.

There are 518 points left to record as we discover more in this 60-minute session which will begin in a few minutes. A little live thanks to the official website MotoGP.com:

Here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Germany Sachsenring MotoGP™ 2022 2023
P1

1'21.479 Jack Miller (See here)

 1'20.702 Johann Zarco (See here)
P2

1'20.018 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)

 1'20.271 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)
FP

1'19.765 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)

 (See here)
FP4

1'21.065 Fabio Quartararo (See here)

 XXXXXXX
Q1 1'20.307 Fabio Di Giannantonio (See here) (See here)
Q2

1'19.931 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)

 (See here)
Sprint

XXXXXX

 (See here)
Warm Up

1'21.264 Jorge Martin (See here)

 (See here)
Course Quartararo, Zarco, Miller (See here) (See here)
All time lap record

1'19.765 Francesco Bagnaia 2022 (See here)

When the red lights go out, Marco Bezzecchi takes the lead on soft slick tires, a choice that is almost unanimous.

In these precarious conditions, Jack Miller recorded the first reference in 1'24.503 while some drivers have not yet taken to the track, like Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaro, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez.

George Martin then takes command in 1'22.388, at the moment when Takaaki Nakagami is an unwitting victim of the famous Waterfall. Motorcycle equipped with the Kalex chassis completely destroyed, the Japanese driver got up without apparent injury.

Red flags after nine minutes in a session now dominated by Miguel Oliveira in 1'22.037!

After a few moments to clean the gravel trap of the parts of the LCR team's RC213V, the session restarts, or starts in the case of fabio quartararo.

From the outset, Miguel Oliveira improves his time to 1'21.694, ahead of Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Fabio Quartararo, Marco Bezzecchi, Augusto Fernandez, Marc Marquez, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco.

The track dries up and the time table looks like a Christmas tree with countless sectors lit in red.

The French Johann zarco et Fabio Quartararo go back to third and fourth places in the session, but it is Augusto Fernandez which creates surprise and smiles at Tech3 by temporarily seizing third position!

After this first third, we therefore find Miguel Oliveira in 1'21.449, Jorge Martin, Augusto Fernandez, Johann Zarco, Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo, Marco Bezzecchi, Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini, Alex Márquez, Marc Márquez, Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaro, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Maverick Vinales, Luca Marini, Franco Morbidelli, Jonas Folger, Raul Fernandez and Takaaki Nakagami.

While most drivers stop mid-session, Miguel Oliveira continued his effort and scored 1'20.862, which allowed him to enter the top 10 combined, in third position.

On resumption, Luca marini jumped to second position in the session but remained 13th overall, while Raul fernandez is a new victim of the trapping Waterfall and finds himself lying in the middle of the track. Hot !

Jack Miller recorded the second time of the session, only 40/1000 behind Miguel Oliveira, and, as a result, enters the top 5 overall.

Fabio DiGiannantonio then leads the session in 1'20.799, which propels him to second overall behind Johann zarco.

Marc Márquez gets yet another heat while releasing the big attack, and it doesn't seem to suit him...

On the contrary, George Martin is on cloud nine and achieves 1'20.461, the best time of the day.

At Tech3 too, we have reasons to be satisfied, Augusto Fernandez now appearing third in the session, fourth overall.

Apart Johann zarco et Marc Marquez for the front men, most drivers improved their morning times.

Nine minutes from the checkered flag, Francesco Bagnaia achieves the best time of the day in 1'20.371. In the combined ranking, and now precedes Jack Miller, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, Alex Márquez, Johann Zarco, Brad Binder, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Augusto Fernandez and Luca Marinias fabio quartararo and for the moment in 15th position.

But while almost everyone stopped to change a new rear tire, the Yamaha rider moved up to fourth position.

The top 10 takes less than half a second!

Maverick Vinales makes a mistake in turn #1 on his exit lap, without seriousness.

Four minutes from the checkered flag, Marc Marquez loses control of his Honda in turn one and literally mows down Johann zarco who was rushing. The French pilot is conscious but remains lying on the ground, visibly in pain.

Fortunately, the terrible impact mainly tore off the front of the Ducati and our national world champion got up after a few moments on the ground. Red flag!

We leave again for three minutes and immediately another fall into the Waterfall, this time due to Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Luca marini snatches eighth position and thus leaves the top 10 the valiant Augusto Fernandez while at the last moment Alex Espargaro reminds us of the potential of the Aprilia in 1'20.352!

But it's not over yet and Marco Bezzecchi registered at the last minute 1'20.271 at the top of the table!

Finally, Marco Bezzecchi, Jorge Martin, Aleix Espargaro, Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo, Luca Marini, Enea Bastianini, Alex Márquez and the unfortunate Johann zarco go directly to Qualification-2 which promises to be very hot…

Results from P2 of the MotoGP German Grand Prix at Sachsenring:

P1-P2 results from the MotoGP German Grand Prix at Sachsenring:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com