MotoGP Germany FP1 LIVE: Jorge Martin for butter, Marc Marquez for real!

Much earlier in the season than in 2022, the rocket Francis Bagnaia seems to have ignited its reactors and is already arriving at full power on the Sachsenring circuit for the German Grand Prix MotoGP, 9th round of the championship.

Having just come out of the Dutch GP, less than seven days ago, where he appeared serene before, during and after, the Ducati Lenovo Team rider indeed arrives in former East Germany with a tendency and statistics as impressive as his driving.

Winner of the last three Grands Prix of Catalonia, Italy and the Netherlands, and the only driver to have scored two full cards of 37 points during this first part of the season, the Turinese is only 10 points behind the championship leader. Less than a week ago, he had a perfect weekend, taking pole position, setting a new circuit record, then winning the Sprint and Grand Prix MotoGP on Sunday (also setting a new fastest lap in the race).

In addition, it will be a memorable weekend for the two-time reigning world champion, who has the circuit record of 1'19.756 since 2022 and will reach the 200 Grand Prix of the world championship this Sunday. Will he take the lead in the general classification, with for the moment a deficit of 10 points on a Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) who already seems almost resigned?

The n°1 has only two podiums on the lands of a certain Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing) in Germany, finishing P3 in Moto2™ in 2017 and P2 in MotoGP™ in 2023 (from pole) following a great battle with Jorge Martin (he also finished P2 in the Sprint in 2023). In 2022, he also qualified on pole but crashed on lap 4 at turn 1 to lose 91 points off the Championship lead, before overturning that deficit to clinch the title…

Francis Bagnaia : “This weekend will be the last before the summer break, and I hope to close this first part of the season in the best possible way. We are coming off three very positive weekends, where we only missed out on victory in the Barcelona Sprint, but in Holland everything was perfect. Last year in Germany Martín was very strong, but we also managed to be more competitive on Sunday. Now we have to stay focused. We have all the potential to continue to do well, and if we work like we have so far, I'm sure we will be able to do well this weekend too. »

In front of the Ducati official only appears the championship leader, George Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), humiliated by Borgo Panigale despite his top performances for two years. The one who bet on Aprilia from 2025 is undoubtedly keen to show that he is the best, but he humbly bowed last weekend at Assen. The Madrilenian arrives on a track where he achieved his first double last year (Sprint & GP victory), only ahead of Francis Bagnaia by 0,064s during the GP. We're looking forward to the race...

Four other drivers seem able to come and play spoilsport, starting of course with Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) which, since Jerez, is generally making good money from its race weekends despite a poor performance in the Netherlands. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) in great shape since its future was sealed, Peter Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) still solid in its first year, as well as a combative Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing), all equally capable of very good things, although a little less regular at the moment.

 

But to write the ninth chapter of this 2024 MotoGP season, it will be necessary to cover the German track of 15 meters 3671 times during the Sprint on Saturday and complete 30 loops on Sunday, on a track with a surface that is both abrasive and not very grippy, characterized by its succession of eight left turns before the infamous Waterfall. It is the shortest circuit of the season, but also, with Philipp Island (Australia), the most difficult for the tires. It is, however, one of the slowest, but its 10 left turns and 3 right turns, as well as the fact that its longest straight does not exceed 700 meters, generate strong constraints and little rest time for the tires. . It also has the particularity of being taken in a counterclockwise direction, which is a fairly rare occurrence during the season.

Among the current full-time riders, 8 have reached the podium at the Sachsenring in MotoGP: Marc Marquez (8), Maverick Vinales (2), Quartararo (2), Zarco (2), Oliveira (1), Miller (1), Bagnaia (1) and Martin (1).

The last editions were won by Jorge Martin (2023), fabio quartararo (2022) and Marc Marquez (2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 20216, 2015, 2014 and 2013).

The records are set in 1'19.765 for pole position (Francis Bagnaia) in 2022, and 305,0 km/h for the speed (Marco Bezzecchi) since 2023!

 

Weather wise, we could now escape the rain that fell last night…

While waiting to discover more, at the moment when the 23 pilots (with Stefan bradl wildcard for Honda and Remy gardner to replace Alex Rins) are preparing for this first 45-minute free practice session, with heavy skies starting to partially clear, wind blowing at their backs on the straight and cool temperatures of 17° in the air and 23 ° on the ground, let's enjoy these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

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

MotoGP™ Germany, Sachsenring	2023	2024
FP1	1'20.702 Johann Zarco (See here)	1'20.584 Jorge Martin (See here)
Practice	1'20.271 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	(See here)
FP2	1'29.269 Marc Marquez (See here)	(See here)
Q1	1'24.655 Brad Binder (See here)	(See here)
Q2	1'21.409 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	(See here)
Sprint	Martin, Bagnaia, Miller (See here)	(See here)
Warm Up	1'20.999 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	(See here)
Course	Martin, Bagnaia, Zarco (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	1'19.765 Francesco Bagnaia 2022 (See here)

When the red lights go out... Marc and Alex Marquez rush off first, as is now becoming the habit, while fabio quartararo continues the tradition of hitting the track last.

Everyone is equipped with the rear medium and the front tender, except Brad Binder and Jack Miller which use a midrange at the front.

At the end of the first round, George Martin registered the first reference in 1'22.422 in front Fabio Quartararo, Raul Fernandez, Jack Miller and Alex Marquez.

The Pramac driver improves in 1'21.952, next pass, this time in front Marco Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez, Pedro Acosta and Miguel Oliveira.

Another lap and this time he is in 1'21.307, ahead Alex Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pedro Acosta.

However, at the end of the first run, the ranking consists of Marc Márquez in 1'21.027 ahead Alex Márquez, Jorge Martin, Maverick Vinales, Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Pedro Acosta, Franco Morbidelli, Raul Fernandez, Enea Bastianini, Augusto Fernandez, Francesco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Luca Marini, Stéphane Bradl, Takaaki Nakagami, Joan Mir, Remy Gardner and Aleix Espargaro who still suffers from his hand and receives a visit from Doctor Charter during the session…

By turning half a second faster than all his opponents, Marc Márquez sends a clear message to the latter, even if we suspect that they will gradually reduce the current gap...

This is what Jorge does Martin from the restart from the restart, closing to 0,333s of the Gresini driver before visiting the gravel trap of turn #8, without falling.

Enea Bastianini then abandons his 14th position in favor of 4th, thus crossing the mid-session milestone 10 places ahead of his teammate still in his box.

For the record, Remy gardner is then in 1'23.406, behind Joan mir in 1'23.186.

As the last quarter of an hour approaches, Marc Marquez accelerates again and registers 1'20.734, while Francis Bagnaia is still in his box, without having done a second run…

The hierarchy is then composed of Marc Márquez, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, Alex Márquez, Maverick Vinales, Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Pedro Acosta, Franco Morbidelli, Raul Fernandez, Francesco Bagnaia, Augusto Fernandez, Takaaki Nakagami, Johann Zarco, Luca Marini, Stefan Bradl, Remy Gardner, Joan Mir and Aleix Espargaro who only completed two laps and withdrew.

Victim of a broken hand, the Spanish driver admits not having enough strength to be able to brake without danger.

With a soft rear tire that he is the first to use, George Martin took command seven minutes from the checkered flag, setting a time of 1'20.584 before his airbag was triggered unexpectedly.

A few moments later, there it is, Francesco Bagnaia finished adjusting his bike and jumped to 5th position in the provisional ranking!

Marc Márquez then makes a mistake in turn #1, without any seriousness. The Gresini driver immediately tries to restart but his Honda refuses to restart. There are three minutes left and his session is therefore over.

Finally, George Martin remains the only one to have used a soft rear tire, thus making his time relatively insignificant, while Maverick Vinales achieves the third time having put two new medium tires on his Aprilia.

The session ends with the minor fall of Pedro Acosta in the last turn.

See you at 15:00 p.m. for the Pre-Qualifying Practice!

FP1 MotoGP standings from the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com

MotoGP Germany Sachsenring