Even the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Car Racing League
A crash ended Marc Marquez's first free practice session at the Sachsenring on his first MotoGP weekend as a Ducati rider – but the Spaniard had already made a strong first impression before that.
Key moments:
- Marquez was strong before the accident.
- Martin fastest on new tyres
- Espargaro withdraws
A rider with a legendary record on the small, left-handed German Grand Prix circuit, Marquez was in front with his first real flying lap and remained the only rider to reach the 1:20 range until late in the session.
He had an accident at Turn 1 due to used tyres late in the race, which led to his Ducati being reassembled and brought into the pits.
By that point, championship leader Jorge Martin of the Pramac Ducati team had taken the lead with a time of 1:20.584, but this was on a new set of soft tyres.
Marquez's time in his initial group was still good enough for second place, just 0.150 seconds behind.
Maverick Vinales completed the top three for the Aprilia team on a new medium-medium tyre set, with Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Aprilia), Pedro Acosta (Tech3 GasGas) – who had a late crash at Turn 13 – and Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 GasGas) behind Vinales, who also advanced thanks to the new tyres.
Enea Bastianini in seventh was the second highest rider not to go for a late tyre change, and was still around half a second behind Marquez.
Remy Gardner, returning from the MotoGP World Championship and replacing Alex Rins, finished 22nd in the round, 2.4 seconds off the pace and more than a second behind Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo.
As expected, Aleix Espargaro's German Grand Prix weekend didn't go beyond the opening free practice.
The Spaniard, who suffered a fractured metatarsal bone in his right hand in Assen, had hoped the Sachsenring would give him an outside chance of completing the weekend – but he called it off after just three laps, including one lap ten seconds off the pace.
“I had a lot of pain before I came here,” he told MotoGP.com. “I decided at the last minute to come here. Obviously the doctors told me I wouldn’t be able to ride the bike, but I didn’t want to stay at home. I came here and gave it my all.”
“But it’s impossible, and I’m in a lot of pain. Every time I turn a right corner I can’t control the accelerator, so it’s also dangerous for others. So I have to stop.”
