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MotoGP

What went down in first Sachsenring MotoGP practice

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
3 min read

until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League

KTM-bound Ducati MotoGP rider Jack Miller led a Ducati 1-2 in the opening practice session of the German Grand Prix weekend at the Sachsenring.

Key moments:

> Top three within a tenth

> Five Ducatis in top 10

> Four Turn 1 crashes, two of them for Espargaro

Miller took the lead relatively early on and his 1m21.479s was never matched, albeit works team-mate Francesco Bagnaia came up just 0.015s short.

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Championship leader Fabio Quartararo completed a top three split by just 0.078s, followed by Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami – the latter declared fit for this weekend after avoiding major injuries in the three-bike incident he’d triggered at the start of the Barcelona race.

Another participant in that crash, Suzuki’s Alex Rins, has likewise been declared fit but, still nursing a fractured wrist, logged a field-low 13 laps in FP1.

Aleix Espargaro led the way for Aprilia in sixth, both he and team-mate Maverick Vinales using the ‘sidepod’ aero upgrade that made its debut in the post-Catalan GP test day.

Luca Marini took seventh for VR46 Ducati, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (RNF Yamaha), the Italian veteran moving up the order late on with a push on fresh tyres.

Both Dovizioso and Rins had front-end tip-offs at Turn 1, as did Honda’s Pol Espargaro. Espargaro, however, then also had a painful highside at the same corner later in the session.

There were as many as 20 riders fitting in within a second of the pace at the short German circuit, with only the Tech3 KTM rookie duo, Honda’s Marc Marquez stand-in Stefan Bradl and RNF Yamaha newcomer Darryn Binder outside of that margin.

Practice 1 Results

Pos Name Team Bike Gap Next Gap Leader Best Time
1 Jack Miller Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1m21.479s
2 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati +0.015s +0.015s 1m21.494s
3 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.063s +0.078s 1m21.557s
4 Johann Zarco Pramac Racing Ducati +0.098s +0.176s 1m21.655s
5 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda +0.005s +0.181s 1m21.66s
6 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.005s +0.186s 1m21.665s
7 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati +0.006s +0.192s 1m21.671s
8 Andrea Dovizioso WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha +0.059s +0.251s 1m21.73s
9 Jorge Martin Pramac Racing Ducati +0.005s +0.256s 1m21.735s
10 Alex Marquez LCR Honda Castrol Honda +0.037s +0.293s 1m21.772s
11 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.041s +0.334s 1m21.813s
12 Pol Espargaró Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.009s +0.343s 1m21.822s
13 Joan Mir Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +0.023s +0.366s 1m21.845s
14 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.094s +0.46s 1m21.939s
15 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.005s +0.465s 1m21.944s
16 Enea Bastianini Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati +0.113s +0.578s 1m22.057s
17 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati +0.095s +0.673s 1m22.152s
18 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.085s +0.758s 1m22.237s
19 Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +0.014s +0.772s 1m22.251s
20 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati +0.224s +0.996s 1m22.475s
21 Stefan Bradl Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.072s +1.068s 1m22.547s
22 Remy Gardner Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.051s +1.119s 1m22.598s
23 Raul Fernandez Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.209s +1.328s 1m22.807s
24 Darryn Binder WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha +0.189s +1.517s 1m22.996s
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