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Dry or wet, it does not matter much, because on the Sachsenring, Marc Marquez is an indisputable verdict. After taking the best time in FP3, the Spaniard confirmed his superiority in qualifying as well, taking pole position on Saturday with a time of 1’27”302: “I am very happy with this result, although there was still some difficulty in the wet” the five-time world champion pointed out. During the sessions, number 93 then had a bit of a tête-à-tête on the track with Maverick Viñales, so much that they even made contact: “There was a bit of confusion in that moment – he recalled – He overtook me aggressively after I had slowed down. These are qualifiers and I found myself with a wasted lap.”
Despite the inconvenience, the Honda rider still sent a crystal clear signal on the Sachsenring, sending Petrucci’s dreams of a historic pole up in smoke (+0.160) on the day of his contract renewal with Pramac. The Italian rider initially earned a spot in Q2, doing the fast lap a full three minutes before the end. And then Marquez got in the way: “They screwed me again – Petrux said with a smile – I wanted to take Q2, despite the wet. Marc improved in the final stages, but what counts is the race tomorrow.”
Bringing home the third place time was Dani Pedrosa, more than six tenths behind his teammate (+0.647): “I am happy – he says – Being on the front row at the Sachsenring is important. Also, I found my confidence again in the wet and I hope to be competitive on Sunday.”
If Honda flexed its muscles in Germany, it was the opposite for Yamaha. Valentino Rossi and the M1 showed their limits in the water, to the point of filing away the session in ninth place and more than a second behind the leader (+1.367). Even worse was Maverick Viñales (+1.521), once again in difficulty like he was a week ago in Assen, so much that he had to settle for the eleventh place time ahead of Bautista with gap of a second and a half. On the other hand, when it rains it pours for Johann Zarco, who did not manage make it past Q1.
And so, holding the Yamaha colours high was hometown hero Jonas Folger (+0.908), finishing with the fifth best time behind Cal Crutchlow’s Honda LCR (+0.787). Sharing the second row with the Brit and the German is Jorge Lorenzo’s Ducati (6th, +1.081). Farther back, on the other hand, is the GP17 ridden by Andrea Dovizioso, all the way back in tenth place (+1.401).
There was no lack of surprises in the Sachsenring qualifiers. Indeed, because after going through to Q2, Pol Espargaró and his KTM clinched the seventh spot on the grid. This was a performance to write home about for the Spaniard, who will have the Aprilia ridden by his brother Aleix next to him tomorrow afternoon, separated by just 124 thousandths.
Instead, it was another bitter afternoon for Andrea Iannone. His chances of going through to Q2 were compromised when he ran long on the final lap.
