Catch us if you can - Ducati blitz day-one as Bagnaia sets new lap record
While lap times in FP1 were fast, the start of FP2 was red-hot as Miguel Oliveira and Jorge Martin both went underneath Jack Miller's top time on just their second flying laps.
Martin set a time of 1:21.136s to momentarily get the better of the Portuguese rider, before team-mate Johann Zarco pipped Martin by just -0.043s.
However, it was Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro who laid down the first serious marker by setting a first sub 1m 21s lap of the weekend.
A 1:20.789s was set by the Spaniard as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia got within a tenth of the Argentina MotoGP winner.
Looking to bounce back from a disastrous FP1 where he crashed twice at turn one, Pol Espargaro was finding it difficult to crack the top ten.
With 11-time Sachsenring winner (eight of which have come in MotoGP) Marc Marquez absent as he continues his post-surgery recovery, Honda’s hopes of keeping their winning streak alive in Germany will rest heavily on Espargaro.
Struggling to match his main championship threat [Espargaro], Fabio Quartararo was unable to make an impression on the top times, instead slotting into ninth early on.
Not for the first time today, turn one was proving very tough to navigate as Enea Bastianini ran off track and through the gravel. Luckily for the Italian he avoided the same fate as P. Espargaro, Alex Rins and Andrea Dovizioso who all crashed.
With race simulations underway, Maverick Vinales was a rider looking particularly strong as he went third quickest.
Despite a nasty left wrist injury following his turn one accident with Takaaki Nakagami in Catalunya, Rins was battling through the pain as he jumped from eighth to third with a quarter of the session remaining.
As the time attacks got underway, Miller’s first effort was an absolute cracker as he narrowly missed out on setting a new all-time lap record.
Miller was just +0.026s off the record held by Marc Marquez, while a response from Espargaro was imminent.
Although it was a great lap Espargaro was unable to dislodge the Australian, that honour instead went the way of Bagnaia who set a new lap record in the process.
While Bagnaia set a second consecutive new lap record on his very next lap, Luca Marini then made it three Ducatis inside the top three after also going underneath the previous lap record.
Thriller Miller fastest in MotoGP FP1 at Sachsenring
Fresh off a two-year agreement with KTM that starts next season, Miller led a factory Ducati 1-2 in Free Practice 1 ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.
With riders electing to forgo time-attack runs at the end of the session, Miller’s time of 1:21.479s remained untroubled through to the checkered flag.
