As it happened: Bagnaia and Ducati dominate day-one of the German MotoGP

Round ten of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship takes place from Sachsenring, Germany. 

Jack Miller led a factory Ducati 1-2 in FP1 ahead of MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo in third.

There were four crashes, two of which came from Repsol Honda rider Pol Espargaro - all four falls occurred at turn one.

Winner of every race he’s ever competed in at Sachsenring, which includes every MotoGP race since 2013 (race was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Marc Marquez will not defend his ‘King of the Ring’ status as he continues to recover from a recent right arm surgery. 

Remy Gardner, Alex Marquez, Brad Binder, Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco have all won at Sachsenring in Moto2, while Jorge Martin, Joan Mir, Jack Miller and Alex Rins achieved the same result in Moto3. 

One rider who’s never won at Sachsenring across any category is reigning world champion and current series leader Fabio Quartararo. 

But given his dominating victory last time out in Barcelona, the Monster Energy Yamaha rider could be considered the pre-weekend favourite as Yamaha have gone well at Sachsenring previously. 

Quarararo’s two visits to Sachsenring in MotoGP yielded a DNF in 2019 before claiming third last year. 

Another rider looking to challenge will be Francesco Bagnaia after the Italian was unfortunately taken out in Catalunya. 

With Aleix Espargaro failing to match Quartararo for pace which was not foreseen going into the race after being fastest for nearly the entire weekend, Bagnaia could and most likely would have proved to be Quartararo’s biggest threat for victory. 

However, this never came to fruition as Bagnaia and Rins were collected by an out-of-control Takaaki Nakagami who lost the front-end of his LCR Honda on the approach to turn one.  

Thankfully all three riders suffered no injuries, in particular Nakagami as the Japanese rider suffered the biggest impact of anyone.

Nakagami hit his head on the rear wheel of Bagnaia, while Rins was flung over the top of his GSX-RR - both Nakagami and Rins have been passed fit for this weekend. 

With ‘silly season’ in full effect and several riders looking to secure rides for 2023, one name who need not worry is Miller as the Australian will take part in his first race for Ducati since it was confirmed he will leave the Italian manufacturer for KTM at the end of 2022.