UPDATE Jack Miller penalty: German MotoGP - Full Qualifying Results
UPDATE: Jack Miller will retain his sixth place on the grid, but has been handed a long-lap penalty for crashing under a yellow flag in FP4.
Speaking before the verdict, Miller explained: "I started FP4 on the hard-hard tyre option. I had a big vibration on the front tyre and I don’t know why. I saw the yellow flags and literally said to myself 'don’t crash…' and braked early and the next thing I know I was on the ground.
"Of course, I crashed on a yellow, but I will go and plead my case because I was not trying to improve, you can tell from my sectors and my data. What will be will be. There have been a few guys this weekend who have had tyres that are vibrating on the front. I don’t know why that is, but we are preparing data now to take up there and we will see what [the FIM Stewards] say..."
| German MotoGP, Sachsenring - Full Qualifying Results | ||||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time/Diff | Lap | Max |
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | 1'19.931s | 6/8 | 303k |
| 2 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.076s | 7/8 | 300k |
| 3 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.099s | 6/8 | 300k |
| 4 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.189s | 6/9 | 302k |
| 5 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21)* | +0.197s | 6/9 | 298k |
| 6 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +0.219s | 7/8 | 299k |
| 7 | Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | +0.237s | 7/8 | 298k |
| 8 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.288s | 7/8 | 298k |
| 9 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.537s | 7/7 | 303k |
| 10 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +0.631s | 7/7 | 295k |
| 11 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)* | +0.662s | 7/8 | 301k |
| 12 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.801s | 7/10 | 298k |
| Qualifying 1: | ||||||
| 13 | Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | 1'20.604s | 7/7 | 300k |
| 14 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | 1'20.656s | 6/8 | 299k |
| 15 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | 1'20.757s | 7/8 | 298k |
| 16 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | 1'20.888s | 3/7 | 298k |
| 17 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21) | 1'20.905s | 3/6 | 299k |
| 18 | Stefan Bradl | GER | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | 1'20.908s | 7/7 | 296k |
| 19 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) | 1'20.965s | 10/10 | 295k |
| 20 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | 1'21.02s | 7/8 | 296k |
| 21 | Remy Gardner | AUS | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | 1'21.089s | 8/8 | 295k |
| 22 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | 1'21.322s | 7/8 | 296k |
| 23 | Darryn Binder | RSA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)* | 1'21.322s | 2/7 | 295k |
* Rookie
Fastest Friday time:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 19.765s
Official Sachsenring MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 19.765s (2022)
Fastest race lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 21.228s (2019)
Francesco Bagnaia couldn't beat this new Sachsenring lap record from FP3 but still took a relatively comfortable pole position for the 2022 German MotoGP at Sachsenring.
Title leader Fabio Quartararo and countryman Johann Zarco will complete Sunday's front row, with Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro recovering from a final practice fall to snare fourth ahead of an excellent performance by rookie Fabio di Giannantonio (who graduated through Qualifying 1).
Bagnaia's team-mate Jack Miller, who remains under investigation for a yellow flag fall in FP4, is due to complete row two but may yet be demoted.
A late accident left Takaaki Nakagami in shoulder pain and hurt the chances of further improvements, with Joan Mir clearly angry at being left twelfth and last.
After attempting to return from a broken wrist, Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins withdrew from the remainder of the event following this morning's FP3 and will now set his sights on being fit for Assen next weekend.
This weekend will see a new winner of the German MotoGP for the first time since 2013, with Marc Marquez - unbeaten at the Sachsenring since the 125cc class in 2011 - absent from the event as he continues to recover from a fourth operation on his right arm. Marquez is again replaced by HRC test rider and home Sachsenring hero Stefan Bradl.
Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo leads the MotoGP standings by 22 points over Aleix Espargaro, after victory in Catalunya was combined with a last-lap blunder by the Aprilia rider.
But the pair have both now pulled clear of triple 2022 race winner Enea Bastianini, whose third DNF in five races has left the Gresini Ducati rider 53 from Quartararo, with Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) close behind.
Bastianini’s crew chief Alberto Giribuola is absent this weekend due to Covid. Gresini technical coordinator Sergio Verbena is standing in as his replacement.
Over at Pramac Ducati, Jorge Martin is riding for the first time since surgery to solve a nerve problem in his right hand.
Bagnaia and Alex Rins were taken out by Takaaki Nakagami’s scary turn-one accident at the Barcelona race. Rins (who suffered a wrist fracture) and Nakagami (kept in hospital overnight) both missed the post-race test as a result of the incident.
Sachsenring is the shortest circuit on the MotoGP calendar, being just 3.7km in length and with the longest straight of 700m. The circuit also has a heavy anti-clockwise bias of 10 left-hand corners, compared to 3 right turns, one of them being the infamous ‘waterfall’ downhill plunge at Turn 11.
Sachsenring also marks the midway point of the planned 20-round world championship season.
2022 German Grand Prix – MotoGP schedule (UK Time)
Friday 17 June
8am - 8.40am - Moto3 Free Practice 1
8.55am - 9.40am - MotoGP Free Practice 1
9.55am - 10.35am - Moto2 Free Practice 1
12.15pm - 12.55pm - Moto3 Free Practice 2
1.10pm - 1.55pm - MotoGP Free Practice 2
2.10pm - 2.50pm - Moto2 Free Practice 2
Saturday 18 June
8am - 8.40am - Moto3 Free Practice 3
8.55am - 9.40am - MotoGP Free Practice 3
9.55am - 10.35am - Moto2 Free Practice 3
11.35am - 11.50am - Moto3 Qualifying 1
12pm - 12.15pm - Moto3 Qualifying 2
12.30pm - 1pm - MotoGP Free Practice 4
1.10pm - 1.25pm - MotoGP Qualifying 1
1.35pm - 1.50pm - MotoGP Qualifying 2
2.10pm - 2.25pm - Moto2 Qualifying 1
2.35pm - 2.50pm - Moto2 Qualifying 2
Sunday 19 June
8am - 8.10am - Moto3 warm-up
8.20am - 8.30am - Moto2 warm-up
8.40am-9am - MotoGP warm-up
10am - Moto3 race
11.20am - Moto2 race
1pm - MotoGP race
| Barcelona: MotoGP World Championship standings | ||||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Points | Diff. | |
| 1 | = | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | 147 | |
| 2 | = | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | 125 | (-22) |
| 3 | = | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21) | 94 | (-53) |
| 4 | ^1 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | 91 | (-56) |
| 5 | ˅1 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | 81 | (-66) |
| 6 | ^1 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | 73 | (-74) |
| 7 | ˅1 | Alex Rins | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | 69 | (-78) |
| 8 | ^2 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | 69 | (-78) |
| 9 | ˅1 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | 65 | (-82) |
| 10 | ˅1 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | 60 | (-87) |
| 11 | = | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | 57 | (-90) |
| 12 | ^3 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | 51 | (-96) |
| 13 | ^1 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | 46 | (-101) |
| 14 | ^2 | Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | 41 | (-106) |
| 15 | ˅3 | Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | 40 | (-107) |
| 16 | ˅3 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | 38 | (-109) |
| 17 | = | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)* | 30 | (-117) |
| 18 | = | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | 26 | (-121) |
| 19 | = | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | 22 | (-125) |
| 20 | ^2 | Darryn Binder | RSA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)* | 10 | (-137) |
| 21 | ˅1 | Fabio di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21)* | 8 | (-139) |
| 22 | ˅1 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) | 8 | (-139) |
| 23 | = | Remy Gardner | AUS | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | 8 | (-139) |
| 24 | NA | Raul Fernandez | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | 1 | (-146) |
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
