2016 German MotoGP Qualifying
Marc Marquez’s Blitzkrieg continued at Sachsenring in Germany Saturday. The Repsol Honda RC213V pilot earned the pole once again at the tight 2.28-mile circuit containing 13 corners – his seventh straight across all classes (125cc, Moto2, MotoGP), including the past four in the premier MotoGP class.
Read our Germany MotoGP Preview – Another Marquez Blitzkrieg?
The 23-year-old Spaniard also set a new fastest lap at the German circuit – a 1:21.160 en route to his 62nd-career Grand Prix pole. The two-time MotoGP Champion is also chasing his fourth-straight victory of the premier class at Sachsenring – the previous three were won from pole.
Joining Marquez on the front row for Sunday’s 30-lap race are Avintia Racing Ducati’s Hector Barbera and nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YZF-R1).
“I am happy to have set the fastest time today, because we are better here than at other circuits and I have a fairly good pace; I am riding comfortably. The final free practice session was not one of the best of the weekend, as I didn’t feel completely right –phrase deleted but we made a change for the qualifying session and that went much better,” Marquez says.
“We need to study the data this afternoon, but in qualifying we managed to take that step forward that we needed. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, because the weather forecast is for conditions to be quite unstable, but in any case we will try to finish on the podium, which is our goal, because it seems that Valentino [Rossi] is very strong and we will also have to keep Dani [Pedrosa] in mind; I don’t know what happened to him in qualifying, but his pace is very close to ours and he is very strong here.”
As for Barbera, who finished 0.412 of a second behind Marquez, this was his second-ever front-row qualifying position, his first arriving at the 2012 Italian GP – also on a Ducati that year. The Spaniard leads the Independent Team point standings, and will seek Ducati’s 100th premier class podium.
Rossi qualified third as he chases his 10th world title. The 37-year-old Italian finished 0.506 of a second behind Marquez. Rossi suffered three DNFs, but finished on the podium in all other races. His teammate, the reigning MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo, struggled so far in Germany. He crashed in Q1, just making it into Q2. But he also suffered a crash at turn one, and qualified 11th – his worst since 12 at the 2013 Dutch GP after he broke his collarbone.
Heading up row two is Octo Pramac Yakhnich Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci, who set an identical time to Rossi. He will be joined on the second row by Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Pol Espargaro (-0.587 of a second behind Marquez) and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales (-0.624), who topped Friday German MotoGP Practice.
Rounding out the top 10 in qualifying were Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro, Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone, and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo, who qualified 11th, was the final rider to post within a second of Marquez.
The ninth round of 2016 MotoGP ahead of the summer break will be broadcast live on beIN with live coverage beginning at 8 a.m. ET Sunday, July 17.
Photos below by Luciano Bianchetto
2016 Sachsenring MotoGP Qualifying Results:
Pos. | Rider | Manufacturer | Nationality | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | ESP | 01’21.160 |
2 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | ESP | 01’21.572 |
3 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | ITA | 01’21.666 |
4 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | ITA | 01’21.666 |
5 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | ESP | 01’21.738 |
6 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki | ESP | 01’21.784 |
7 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | ITA | 01’21.858 |
8 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | ESP | 01’21.883 |
9 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | ITA | 01’21.890 |
10 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | ESP | 01’21.892 |
11 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | ESP | 01’22.088 |
12 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | COL | 01’22.346 |
13 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | GBR | 01’21.783 |
14 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | GBR | 01’21.994 |
15 | Scott Redding | Ducati | GBR | 01’22.236 |
16 | Jack Miller | Honda | AUS | 01’22.382 |
17 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | DEU | 01’22.493 |
18 | Eugene Laverty | Ducati | GBR | 01’22.567 |
19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | ESP | 01’22.670 |
20 | Loris Baz | Ducati | FRA | 01’22.860 |
21 | Tito Rabat | Honda | ESP | 01’23.075 |
2016 Sachsenring MotoGP Qualifying Results – Photo Gallery