Quartararo tops Sachsenring FP3, Vinales and Suzukis to Q1

Points leader Fabio Quartararo set the pace in third MotoGP practice at the Sachsenring, as the 10 riders to progress directly to Q2 were determined.

Quartararo took the lead with a 1m20.348s coming up to the final 10 minutes of the session, and though he was unable to improve after that, it was enough to keep him top of the timing screens.

The Ducatis of factory rider Jack Miller and Pramac rider Johann Zarco were both within a tenth of Quartararo, with Friday pace-setter Miguel Oliveira just 0.103s off the pace – ending up with a time identical to that of Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro.

Zarco’s rookie team-mate Jorge Martin surged late on to secure a Q2 spot, and Francesco Bagnaia made it four Ducatis guaranteed to feature in the pole shoot-out.

It will also feature at least three Hondas, with LCR riders Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez both making the cut, as did Marquez’s elder brother Marc in ninth place.

The two Suzukis of Joan Mir and Alex Rins both missed out, Mir ending up just 0.025s slower than the younger Marquez in 10th. Rins had to park his bike with a mechanical problem midway through the session, rejoining FP3 on the spare.

They will be joined in Q1 by Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales, who looked on course to advance when he tucked the front at Turn 1. He sprinted back to the pits from the site of the crash, but was unable to get himself into the top 10 on the spare bike.

That could be costly! 😲

Maverick Viñales, currently tenth, crashes at Turn 1! 💢#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/m1Xo8QtCVg

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 19, 2021

Pol Espargaro wound up the sole Honda to miss out on an automatic Q2 spot, left to rue a late Turn 8 shunt.

In addition to Vinales, there were two crashes at Turn 1 early on, from Sachsenring MotoGP first-timers Enea Bastianini and Iker Lecuona, who both tipped off after riding through the gravel.

"I can save it, I can save it!" 🙌

Unfortunately, @LecuonaIker had to drop his KTM in the Turn 1 gravel trap! 💢#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/ZAMzToxXhI

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 19, 2021

Lecuona, however, had to do so at a much higher speed, having struggled to get his bucking RC16 stopped on the run down to the corner and forced to bail out to avoid a brutal impact with the barriers.

Practice 3 Results