ZARCO PIPS QUARTARARO TO POLE
Johann Zarco has taken his first pole position of the season and will start the German Motorcycle Grand Prix from first on the grid despite a high-speed crash at the end of the session.
Frenchman Fabio Quartararo was looking for his sixth consecutive pole position, and was the favourite heading into the session, however it was his countryman and championship rival Zarco who took pole.
Quartararo was on top for much of the final qualifying segment, but with two minutes to go Zarco pulled one out of the bag to take provisional pole position by just 0.011s.
Zarco looked to improve on his final lap but crashed heavily at Turn 5, he was uninjured, but this stopped any riders behind from improving their times.
Quartararo had already conceded that he was not going to improve and thus missed out on pole by just over a hundredth.
Aleix Espargaro was impressive throughout the qualifying session and bagged Aprilia’s first front row start since the Australian Grand Prix in 2000.
It was also the Spaniard’s first top three start since he raced a Suzuki for the factory team.
Australian Jack Miller was next best in fourth, it wasn’t a trouble free quali as he completed three runs in the session compared to everyone else’s two, this meant that he was often running out of sync to other riders.
The factory Ducati rider will start from the front of the second row, just 0.272s off the time set by fellow Ducati rider Zarco.
Six-time champion Marc Marquez has never been beaten at the Sachsenring on a MotoGP machine, however the recovering factory Honda rider will have his work cut out to keep up the unbeaten record.
Nevertheless, fifth is a positive step for Marquez who has failed to see the chequered flag in the last three MotoGP races.
Factory KTM rider Miguel Oliveira who won in Barcelona a fortnight ago qualified in sixth, making it five manufacturers in the top six positions.
Last year’s Moto2 Championship runner-up Jorge Martin impressed once again qualifying in seventh ahead of Pol Espargaro.
Like Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami crashed on his final attempt, he will start from ninth ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.
Alex Rins was the best of the Suzuki riders in 11th, while Alex Marquez rounded out the Q2 qualifiers.
There are several big names buried in the pack that failed to progress into the second segment including Maverick Vinales, Joan Mir and Franco Morbidelli.
Brad Binder missed out on a spot in Q2 by just 0.036s, Luca Marini qualified just behind in 14th from fellow rookie Enea Bastianini.
Valentino Rossi’s difficult season continued he qualified in 16th, however, some silver lining was that he was the second-highest positioned Yamaha.
Reigning champion Joan Mir could not find any one lap pace and qualified in 17th position, just ahead of one of his 2020 championship rivals Franco Morbidelli. Tech3 riders Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona rounded out the top 20.
While his factory Yamaha teammate Quartararo qualified in second, Maverick Vinales qualified in second last, only ahead of Lorenzo Savadori who crashed heavily late in the session.
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