Francesco Bagnaia led Aleix Espargaro in the third MotoGP practice of the Sachsenring weekend, with the Q1 line-up decided.
Key moments:
> Ducati imperious again
> Visor drama for Quartararo
> Crashes for Bezzecchi, Nakagami and Marquez
Bagnaia’s benchmark from Friday remained as the Sachsenring lap record until the half-hour mark in FP3, when Espargaro went 0.005s quicker on a fresh soft tyre.
The Aprilia man was on course to go quicker still the next time by, and indeed improved again but only by another 0.006s – getting caught up behind Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli in the final sector, with Espargaro raging and the incident placed under investigation.
It meant that it was Bagnaia who would instead log the first-ever sub-1m20s lap of the Sachsenring a couple of minutes later, and immediately improving upon it to record a 1m19.765s.
As many as four riders – three of them fellow Ducati men – joined Bagnaia in the sub-1m20s margin, but Bagnaia’s time proved good enough to secure him the top spot in FP3.
An improving Espargaro ultimately came closest to dethroning him, coming up six hundredths of a second short, followed by the Ducati trio of Jack Miller, Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin.
Riding the waterfall like a water slide 💥
This was the moment @alexmarquez73 lost it into turn 9 but is ok 🙌#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/JgfD6XzkVl
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 18, 2022
Fabio Quartararo’s fastest lap was to be ruined by yellow flags for an Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) Turn 9 crash, but he instead suffered a bigger drama, having the visor on his helmet pop loose and forcing him into the pits after a number of unsuccessful attempts to fix the issue on-track.
We have a technical issue 💥@FabioQ20's visor has broken but he doesn't have enough time to go back to the pits 👀 #GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/mPNad9wjO8
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 18, 2022
Despite this, he rather comfortably booked a Q2 spot in sixth, the only Yamaha rider to do so, 0.060s clear of the only Suzuki rider to do so – Joan Mir.
Mir’s team-mate Alex Rins, who is nursing a fractured wrist and was still undecided on Friday whether he’d see out the weekend, ended up 17th.
The remaining Q2 spots were taken by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati). Marini was only 15th in the session but had a better Friday time to fall back on, which meant Miguel Oliveira (KTM) – 10th-placed in FP3 – missed out instead.
Big crash in the final moments 💥
Nakagami falls victim to turn 1 but might still make Q2 🙌#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/TDUNKl0ob5
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 18, 2022
Nakagami had a late fall at Turn 1, making it crashes in quick successions for both LCR riders, while VR46 Ducati rookie Marco Bezzecchi had had a big fall coming out of Turn 12 earlier.
Fast crash for @Marco12_B 💥
He's ok and back on his feet 🙌 #GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/KdJdI8mg9p
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 18, 2022
Practice 3 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 1m19.765s | ||
| 2 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | +0.064s | +0.064s | 1m19.829s |
| 3 | Jack Miller | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.044s | +0.108s | 1m19.873s |
| 4 | Johann Zarco | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.086s | +0.194s | 1m19.959s |
| 5 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.01s | +0.204s | 1m19.969s |
| 6 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.069s | +0.273s | 1m20.038s |
| 7 | Joan Mir | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.06s | +0.333s | 1m20.098s |
| 8 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | +0.083s | +0.416s | 1m20.181s |
| 9 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | +0.064s | +0.48s | 1m20.245s |
| 10 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.02s | +0.5s | 1m20.265s |
| 11 | Marco Bezzecchi | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | +0.143s | +0.643s | 1m20.408s |
| 12 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | +0.029s | +0.672s | 1m20.437s |
| 13 | Pol Espargaró | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.019s | +0.691s | 1m20.456s |
| 14 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.073s | +0.764s | 1m20.529s |
| 15 | Remy Gardner | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.059s | +0.823s | 1m20.588s |
| 16 | Luca Marini | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | +0s | +0.823s | 1m20.588s |
| 17 | Alex Rins | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.025s | +0.848s | 1m20.613s |
| 18 | Enea Bastianini | Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | +0.034s | +0.882s | 1m20.647s |
| 19 | Andrea Dovizioso | WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team | Yamaha | +0.012s | +0.894s | 1m20.659s |
| 20 | Darryn Binder | WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team | Yamaha | +0.037s | +0.931s | 1m20.696s |
| 21 | Stefan Bradl | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.077s | +1.008s | 1m20.773s |
| 22 | Franco Morbidelli | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.048s | +1.056s | 1m20.821s |
| 23 | Alex Marquez | LCR Honda Castrol | Honda | +0.216s | +1.272s | 1m21.037s |
| 24 | Raul Fernandez | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.27s | +1.542s | 1m21.307s |
