Freezing temperatures, a very tricky track, “whatever you want” falls, front tires that don’t heat up; Here are roughly the very difficult conditions which damaged the Yamahas yesterday.
Today, it may be quite different but, in the meantime, the air is only at 18° and the track at 22°, shortly before the start of this FP3, even if a rising sun should quickly warm everything up. .
Here are the references available at the start of this third MotGP free practice session, the last to try to appear in the Top 10 and automatically advance to Q2:
| Sachsenring | 2015 | 2016 |
| FP1 | 1'21.766 Marc Marquez | 1'23.702 Andrea Iannone |
| FP2 | 1'21.621 Marc Marquez | 1'22.161 Maverick Vinales |
| FP3 | 1'21.083 Marc Marquez | |
| FP4 | 1'21.334 Marc Marquez | |
| Q | 1'20.336 Marc Marquez | |
| Course | Marquez/Pedrosa/Rossi | |
| Track record | 1'20.336 Marc Marquez |
The attention is obviously focused on the trio Rossi-Pedrosa-Lorenzo, ranked 14, 15 and 16th overall from the first two sessions.
Cal Crutchlow minor fall at turn #1.
After 10 minutes, Valentino Rossi, still with the normal fuel tank, reassured himself to go 4th in 1'22.414 (exactly the same time as Marquez!), taking Petrucci with him.
The red lights come on for both men in T1, but go out in the final two.
At the end of the first run, we therefore find: Vinales, Iannone, Marquez, Rossi, Petrucci, P. Espargaro Barbera, Crutchlow, Dovizioso and A. Espargaro qualified for Q2. Pedrosa, 12th, and Lorenzo, 16th, are still not there. The Honda driver, who made a staggered run, however took 7th place shortly after.
Halfway through the session, Marc Marquez uses his new chassis and begins to turn on the T2 on each lap before positioning himself second, in 1'22.223. Vinales and Iannone have still not improved their time from yesterday.
Before the last run, we find Vinales, Marquez, Iannone, Rossi, Pedrosa, Petrucci, P. Espargaro, Crutchlow, Dovizioso and Barbera. Lorenzo is 16th with his usual tank.
Iannone and Rossi are the first to come out for this one.
Eight minutes before the checkered flag, Red lights T1 and T2 in red, T3 in orange and T4 4 in red: results, provisional pole in 1'22.081. Marquez, who had driven on worn tires yesterday, responded, and not just a little, in 1'21.679. Barbera goes 4th, Lorenzo 6th.
4 minutes left, all lights are on, Crutchlow goes from 12th to 4th, Pedrosa 2th, Lorenzo drops back to 10th and Marquez digs the hole a little further in 1'21.552.
Iannone and Vinales finally improve and reposition themselves 2nd and 3rd. As a result, Red is 8th, Lorenzo 13th again.
The Doctor reacts and snatches 3rd place, while his teammate remains helpless. This is all the more incomprehensible since Espargaro Pol had a very good session with his Yamaha, finishing just behind Rossi.
| Pos | number | Pile | Country | Team | Motorcycle | Temps | deviations | |
| 1 | 93 | Marc Márquez | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1'21.552 | ||
| 2 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1'21.659 | 0.107 | |
| 3 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 1'21.820 | 0.268 | |
| 4 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Yamaha Motor Racing | Yamaha | 1'21.880 | 0.328 | |
| 5 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1'21.910 | 0.358 | |
| 6 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1'21.950 | 0.398 | |
| 7 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 1'22.064 | 0.512 | |
| 8 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1'22.069 | 0.517 | |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1'22.072 | 0.520 | |
| 10 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Pull & Bear Aspar Ducati Team | Ducati | 1'22.127 | 0.575 | |
| 11 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | GBR | Honda LCR | Honda | 1'22.190 | 0.638 | |
| 12 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | OCTO Yakhnich bow | Ducati | 1'22.226 | 0.674 | |
| 13 | 43 | Jack Miller | AUS | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 1'22.308 | 0.756 | |
| 14 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1'22.326 | 0.774 | |
| 15 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | SPA | Yamaha Motor Racing | Yamaha | 1'22.453 | 0.901 | |
| 16 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1'22.656 | 1.104 | |
| 17 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | OCTO Yakhnich bow | Ducati | 1'22.763 | 1.211 | |
| 18 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1'22.987 | 1.435 | |
| 19 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 1'23.453 | 1.901 | |
| 20 | 76 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1'24.060 | 2.508 | |
| 21 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Pull & Bear Aspar Ducati Team | Ducati | 1'24.096 | 2.544 |
