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Qualifying report

Sachsenring MotoGP: Marquez on pole, Lorenzo crashes twice

Marc Marquez will start the German Grand Prix from pole position at the Sachsenring, as Jorge Lorenzo suffered a total nightmare and crashed twice during qualifying.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Hector Barbera, Avintia Racing
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing crash
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Hector Barbera, Avintia Racing
Tito Rabat, Marc VDS Racing Honda and Hector Barbera, Avintia Racing
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Danilo Petrucci, Pramac Racing

Honda’s Marquez took pole by four tenths of a second  – his fourth top spot of the season – from surprise front-row qualifier Hector Barbera’s Avintia Ducati.

Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi will start third, just over half a second off Marquez.

Lorenzo fell at Turn 8 in Q1, and having just scraped through to Q2 by 0.05s, he fell again on his second run in that session. He will start from the fourth row after qualifying 11th.

Story of the session

Conditions were perfect for round nine at the Sachsenring after a weekend packed with crashes so far.

Barbera followed Marquez to set the early Q2 pace on 1m21.633s, but Marquez reversed the positions with a 1m21.581s for provisional P1 – 0.052s quicker than the Avintia Ducati.

Rossi went P3 on 1m21.666s, ahead of Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) on 1m21.810s.

Lorenzo was seventh fastest at the time, behind Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda), half a second off the pace.

Ducati’s Andrea Iannone fell while chasing Yonny Hernandez on his second flying lap at Turn 1, and languished down in 11th.

On the second runs, Lorenzo fell at Turn 1, dropping the front end early on turn-in.

On his final run, Marquez improved his pole time to 1m21.160s, with Barbera also improving but dropping to 0.412s off pole. Rossi stayed third, having become mired in traffic on his second run.

Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci leapt to fourth, ahead of Pol Espargaro (Tech 3 Yamaha), Vinales, Dovi, Aleix, Iannone (who had a near-miss with Marquez at the end of the session), Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Hernandez.

Lorenzo falls in Q1 too

Lorenzo didn’t qualifying straight to Q2 for the top-10 bikes after practice for the first time in his career.

He had just been knocked off the top spot in Q1 by Petrucci, and went for another lap but tumbled heavily after he took too much inside kerb at Turn 8.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow came within 0.05s of kicking Lorenzo out of Q2, and will start 13th.

Cructhlow blamed Stefan Bradl for him missing the Q2 cut, and said: “The front tyres are way too soft for our bike.”

Qualifying results

Pos.DriverBikeQ1Q2
1   Marc Marquez  Honda   1'21.160
2   Hector Barbera  Ducati   1'21.572
3   Valentino Rossi  Yamaha   1'21.666
4   Danilo Petrucci  Ducati 1'21.712 1'21.666
5   Pol Espargaro  Yamaha   1'21.738
6   Maverick Viñales  Suzuki   1'21.784
7   Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati   1'21.858
8   Aleix Espargaro  Suzuki   1'21.883
9   Andrea Iannone  Ducati   1'21.890
10   Dani Pedrosa  Honda   1'21.892
11   Jorge Lorenzo  Yamaha 1'21.737 1'22.088
12   Yonny Hernandez  Ducati   1'22.346
13 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'21.783  
14 Bradley Smith Yamaha 1'21.994  
15 Scott Redding Ducati 1'22.236  
16 Jack Miller Honda 1'22.382  
17 Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1'22.493  
18 Eugene Laverty Ducati 1'22.567  
19 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1'22.670  
20 Loris Baz Ducati 1'22.860  
21 Tito Rabat Honda 1'23.075  

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