Marc Marquez took pole position in Germany for the seventh consecutive season as his dominance at the Sachsenring continues. The championship leader saw off the surprise challenge of Hector Barbera to take pole while reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo endured a nightmare day, qualifying down in eleventh.
Lorenzo had already been up against it after a difficult Friday and despite his best efforts, the Spaniard couldn’t secure an automatic spot in Q2 after finishing final practice down in fifteenth. Jorge upped the pace in the unfamiliar surroundings of Q1 but a crash on his final lap put his Q2 pace in jeopardy. Only traffic for Cal Crutchlow spared his blushes.
Marquez started the pole position shootout as the overwhelming favourite but Barbera had clearly identified the danger, following the Honda around on his first timed lap. The end-result was provisional pole for the Avintia rider, a tenth quicker than Marquez, but the normal order was restored on the second timed laps, Marc improving to a 1:21.581 to regain top spot.
With traffic proving problematic on the calendar’s shortest circuit, the conclusion of Q2 turned into a something of an anti-climax but Marquez found enough clear track to go faster, extending his lead to 0.412s. Barbera maintained second as third-placed Valentino Rossi became mired in a pack of slower riders.
Danilo Petrucci, the star of Q1, took fourth for Pramac ahead of Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro while Friday pacesetter Maverick Vinales could only manage sixth. Andrea Dovizioso lines up seventh ahead of Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone who tumbled early in Q2 but Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo will have plenty of work to do tomorrow, starting together on row four after Lorenzo’s third crash of the weekend.
2016 GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland (Qualifying Classification)
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