The Sachsenring race weekend is underway. What did the first practice sessions show?

On Sunday, we will see the eighth round of the Moto GP World Championship, this time on German soil at the Sachsenring. After a year’s break, we’re finally returning to this circuit and we’ve had our opening practice sessions on Friday. Will Marc Márquez be able to confirm his dominance on this track during the race weekend?

After a year’s break, we’re finally back in Germany at the Sachsenring. Last season, this Moto GP Royal category event was not held at all, due to a modified calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But now we have the first two practice sessions on Friday. Marc Márquez is clearly the dominant rider at this track, having been unbeaten here for ten years, both in qualifying and in the race.

And in the very first practice session, the six-time world champion proved that this track is simply his. With a time of 1.21::660, he dominated the opening practice with a lead of less than two tenths of a second over Fabio Quartararo.

However, the current championship leader did not have a very good start to the first practice session on Friday. Quartara suffered a very nasty crash in the first half of the session. The twenty-two-year-old Frenchman in the service of the Monster Energy Yamaha Moto GP team ended up in a duck and moments after the crash it looked like an arm or hand injury.

However, he eventually managed to recover and set the second fastest time of 1.21::828. Takaaki Nagami for the LCR Honda team moved into the top three after the first practice session. Johann Zarco, currently second man in the riders’ championship standings, ended the first part of the day in eighth position. The legendary Valentino Rossi is up to position number 20.

In the second practice session, Miguel Oliveira continued his great performance from the last race. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider dominated the second practice session with a time of 1.20::69, just 22 thousandths of a second ahead of second-placed Quartararo.

Maverick Viñales, who is a teammate of Quartara, took third position in the second practice session. A very respectable result for Alex Rins, who is only two weeks away from surgery on his broken wrist! He was followed by Pol Espargaro, who crashed in both the first and second practice sessions, with a time of 1.21::108.

Fortunately, however, he can continue the rest of the race weekend without any major problems. The sixth best time was set by Nakagami, while seventh place belongs to Aleix Espargaro. Zarco repeated the same result from the previous practice session, followed by Jack Miller as the ninth driver in the standings.

Franco Morbidelli on a Yamaha motorcycle rounds out the top ten. Unfortunately, Márquez was unable to repeat his great result from the morning, finishing twelfth.

Two more practice sessions are scheduled for Saturday, at 9::55 and 13::30. After that, it’s time to qualify for Sunday’s German Grand Prix. That starts at two hours and ten minutes, so be sure to watch.

Source: Moto GP