Michael Scott | July 1, 2017
The front row at the Sachsenring (Gold & Goose photo)
The more things change … almost, with Danilo Petrucci making a close and brilliant attack on his first pole position in ever-changing weather conditions in Germany. But at the last Marc Marquez was not to be denied, for an eighth successive pole at the pocket-handkerchief Sachsenring circuit.
The Repsol Honda rider was barely a tenth ahead of Petrucci’s Pramac Ducati on a wet but drying track, when the chequered flag came out at the end of Q2. But he was still circulating and going faster still, to underline it by 0.16 of a second.
“In the beginning I was cautious, then I realised that with less water there was less grip [with the rain tyres], and I pushed at the end,” he said. “We need to understand all these conditions, in case there is a flag-to-flag race.
Petrucci had fallen in FP3 and had to come through from Q1. Unusually this was an advantage, as he was familiar with the track conditions in Q2. “I don’t know if I could have been on the front row in the dry,” he affirmed.
Third-placed Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was half a second down; while Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) missed the front row by less than one tenth. “Last week was very difficult in both wet and dry for me,” said Pedrosa, who finished 13th at Assen. “Now I am happy because I am riding well in both conditions. The front row is very important here because the first corners are very tight.”
A dry start to the day didn’t last past Moto3 qualifying after lunch, and for the rest of the afternoon a series of drenching showers passed through, interrupted by spells of sunshine.
The resurfaced track, already praised for high grip levels in both wet and dry, also proved very quick-drying, but both MotoGP qualifying sessions were wet throughout, and the subsequent Moto2 never quite dry enough for slick tyres.
Q1 was mainly streaming wet, and an exciting preview to the main session. Australian Jack Miller (EG-VDS Honda) had led, and was still second when the flag fell (to Petrucci), only to be denied as he waited in the pit, the rain now falling heavily. In spite of that, he was narrowly displaced by Pol Espargaro’s Red Bull KTM, going through to join the top ten for the second time in the Austrian bike’s first season.
The track stayed wet through Q2, and Monster Yamaha rider Jonas Folger delighted his fellow-German fans by being the first to top the sheets. The factory Movistar Yamaha riders, however, were at sea.
But Marquez was coming, and though Petrucci led until the last two minutes, the Honda rider was unstoppable.
Folger was fifth, in the middle of row two, which was completed by Jorge Lorenzo’s factory Ducati.
Pol Espargaro led row three from brother Aleix’s Aprilia and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha), whose late bid on a medium (rather than a hard) wet rear tyre had yielded only a handful of places. He complained of the unpredictability of performance – of either chassis or tyres – from one circuit to the next.
Points leader Andrea Dovizioso was tenth, struggling to find balance and front-wheel grip; only then Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha), suffering wheelspin on corner exit; with Alvaro Bautista (Pull&Bear Ducati) 12th.
Teams were preparing for a repeat of last year’s bike-change flag-to-flag race, which went from wet to dry, and was won (his seventh German win in a row) by Marquez after a canny early switch to slicks.
Moto2 suffered similar bad weather and a similar exciting finale, with some big surprises.
Not for the first two, with Franco Morbidelli snitching his fifth pole of the year from team-mate Alex Marquez after the flag, and by a huge margin of a quarter of a second. Points leader Morbidelli had been eighth and worried, overtaking being difficult here – but in spite of heavier rain mid-session times dropped, and he went out to try again.
Behind the leading pair of team-mates, things got different. Former Moto3 champion Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Suter) had led and remained third – a significant turnaround after a dire season so far.
All the more surprising, GP debutant Hector Garzo was fifth, in the middle of row two, between Mugello winner Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM), who had led for much of the session.
The 19-year-old Spaniard Garzo was riding the Tech 3 in place of the injured Xavi Vierge. Not unimpressive in 22nd in the dry, he revelled in the wet, and had even challenged for pole before the final scramble.
Tom Luthi (CarXpert Kalex) led row three; Remy Gardner (Tech 3) was 14th.
The grid was mixed to the back, with previous German GP winner Dominique Aegerter 17th and Assen podium finisher Taka Nakagami 25th.
Moto3 qualifying was briefly interrupted by rain flags, but dried again by the end, and the top 19 were within a second of pole.
Title leader Joan Mir (Leopard Honda) seemed to have been in control until the dying minutes, when Assen winner Aron Canet (EG Honda) pulled a blinder and took his second pole of the year by 0.245 of a second. It was too late for Mir to do anything about it.
Nicolo Bulega (SKY VR46 KTM) was third; Marcos Ramirez (Platinum Bay KTM) led row two from rookie Tony Arbolino (SIC58 Honda) and Romano Fenati (Rivacold Honda).
GoPro MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX DEUTSCHLAND
MotoGP Qualifying Classification 2017
Sachsenring, Saturday, July 01, 2017
| 1 |
93 |
Marc MARQUEZ |
SPA |
Repsol Honda Team |
Honda |
273.6 |
1’27.302 |
|
| 2 |
9 |
Danilo PETRUCCI |
ITA |
OCTO Pramac Racing |
Ducati |
283.9 |
1’27.462 |
0.160 / 0.160 |
| 3 |
26 |
Dani PEDROSA |
SPA |
Repsol Honda Team |
Honda |
266.9 |
1’27.949 |
0.647 / 0.487 |
| 4 |
35 |
Cal CRUTCHLOW |
GBR |
LCR Honda |
Honda |
281.5 |
1’28.089 |
0.787 / 0.140 |
| 5 |
94 |
Jonas FOLGER |
GER |
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 |
Yamaha |
277.7 |
1’28.210 |
0.908 / 0.121 |
| 6 |
99 |
Jorge LORENZO |
SPA |
Ducati Team |
Ducati |
279.6 |
1’28.383 |
1.081 / 0.173 |
| 7 |
44 |
Pol ESPARGARO |
SPA |
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
KTM |
275.0 |
1’28.402 |
1.100 / 0.019 |
| 8 |
41 |
Aleix ESPARGARO |
SPA |
Aprilia Racing Team Gresini |
Aprilia |
278.6 |
1’28.526 |
1.224 / 0.124 |
| 9 |
46 |
Valentino ROSSI |
ITA |
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP |
Yamaha |
279.7 |
1’28.669 |
1.367 / 0.143 |
| 10 |
4 |
Andrea DOVIZIOSO |
ITA |
Ducati Team |
Ducati |
282.2 |
1’28.703 |
1.401 / 0.034 |
| 11 |
25 |
Maverick VIÑALES |
SPA |
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP |
Yamaha |
281.1 |
1’28.823 |
1.521 / 0.120 |
| 12 |
19 |
Alvaro BAUTISTA |
SPA |
Pull&Bear Aspar Team |
Ducati |
277.3 |
1’28.968 |
1.666 / 0.145 |
| 13 |
43 |
Jack MILLER |
AUS |
EG 0,0 Marc VDS |
Honda |
280.0 |
1’27.967 |
0.279 / 0.272 |
| 14 |
76 |
Loris BAZ |
FRA |
Reale Avintia Racing |
Ducati |
279.9 |
1’27.979 |
0.291 / 0.012 |
| 15 |
38 |
Bradley SMITH |
GBR |
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
KTM |
277.8 |
1’28.015 |
0.327 / 0.036 |
| 16 |
29 |
Andrea IANNONE |
ITA |
Team SUZUKI ECSTAR |
Suzuki |
280.6 |
1’28.103 |
0.415 / 0.088 |
| 17 |
36 |
Mika KALLIO |
FIN |
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
KTM |
274.3 |
1’28.285 |
0.597 / 0.182 |
| 18 |
8 |
Hector BARBERA |
SPA |
Reale Avintia Racing |
Ducati |
275.7 |
1’28.404 |
0.716 / 0.119 |
| 19 |
5 |
Johann ZARCO |
FRA |
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 |
Yamaha |
280.3 |
1’28.444 |
0.756 / 0.040 |
| 20 |
17 |
Karel ABRAHAM |
CZE |
Pull&Bear Aspar Team |
Ducati |
280.0 |
1’28.625 |
0.937 / 0.181 |
| 21 |
22 |
Sam LOWES |
GBR |
Aprilia Racing Team Gresini |
Aprilia |
278.3 |
1’28.659 |
0.971 / 0.034 |
| 22 |
42 |
Alex RINS |
SPA |
Team SUZUKI ECSTAR |
Suzuki |
281.2 |
1’29.504 |
1.816 / 0.845 |
| 23 |
45 |
Scott REDDING |
GBR |
OCTO Pramac Racing |
Ducati |
274.8 |
1’29.578 |
1.890 / 0.074 |
| 24 |
53 |
Tito RABAT |
SPA |
EG 0,0 Marc VDS |
Honda |
276.9 |
1’30.028 |
2.340 / 0.450 |
