Ducati factory rider beats his own track record. Top five for Marcel Schrötter in Moto2. New records in Moto3 too.

Hohenstein-Ernstthal. Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia has been unstoppable so far at the Sachsenring: In Saturday’s qualifying session, the Italian secured pole position for the 2022 LIQUI MOLY Motorcycle Grand Prix of Germany. Bagnaia clocked the fastest time of 1:19.931 minutes. Second place on the grid will be occupied by world champion Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) from France, with his compatriot Johann Zarco (Ducati) completing the front row in third place.

“I am really happy. We have done a very good job, even in these very hot conditions,” said a delighted Bagnaia. However, it is going to be a long race: The distance at the demanding Sachsenring is 30 laps and temperatures are set to rise again on Sunday. “The fourth free practice went fantastically well, the feeling for the tyres was very good. It was not easy to ride consistently, but that is the same for everyone,” said the Ducati rider, who finished runner-up in last year’s MotoGP championship.

“Yesterday, I was surprised to make such a good start to the weekend. The feeling actually got better and better from one practice to the next. I now feel comfortable with everything. We have great potential.” In front of packed grandstands and in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, Bagnaia continued his pursuit of records: He set a new lap record of 1:19.765 minutes in FP3. In doing so, he dipped below the magical 1:20-minute mark at the Sachsenring for the first time ever in MotoGP.

Stefan Bradl had been hoping for an improvement at the Sachsenring, and there were definitely signs of that in qualifying on Saturday. The replacement for the “King of the Ring”, Marc Marquez, set the eighth fastest time in the first qualifying session. That means the Honda factory rider will start from 18th on the grid. “I am happy, because I went under 1:21 minutes today. I feel like I am finding my rhythm,” said Bradl, summing up his race weekend so far.

There was another top-speed record on Saturday: Spain’s Jorge Martin, who lines up alongside Zarco for Prima Pramac Racing, smashed the previous record set on Friday. The Ducati rider recorded a top speed of 304.2 km/h on the approach to turn 12 – that is 1.7 km/h faster than fellow Ducati man Enea Bastianini (Italy) achieved one day earlier.

Second row for Marcel Schrötter

Marcel Schrötter (LIQUI MOLY IntactGP) starts from the second row in the Moto2 class. The only regular German rider in the motorcycle world championship impressed in qualifying and secured fifth place on the grid. The fastest lap time of 1:23.493 minutes came courtesy of Britain’s Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team). He is joined on the front row by Spaniards Albert Arenas (GASGAS Aspar Team) and Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo).

In Moto3, Spain’s Izan Guevara broke the previous track record on his way to securing pole position in qualifying. The rider from the GASGAS Aspar team took 1:25.869 minutes to lap the Sachsenring and was the only man in Moto3 to go under 1:26 minutes. Starting alongside him on the front row will be Italian Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) and his compatriot Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo). The third free practice session on Saturday morning also saw Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) from Italy break the previous top-speed record for the Moto3 class, which had stood since 2014. He was clocked at 216.8 km/h on the approach to Sachsenkurve.

Tickets for MotoGP at the Sachsenring are still available from the online ticket shop at adac.de/motogp, as well as by phone on 03723/8099111 and E-mail (info@sachsenring-event.de). Tickets purchased for the 2020 and 2021 Motorcycle Grands Prix remain valid for the 2022 race weekend.