The Ducati rider confirmed his good performance in free practice on Saturday afternoon (18) and secured pole-position for the German GP. Besides standing out in terms of lap times, Pecco also showed good pace, but the fight at Sachsenring promises to involve also the usual candidates: Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaró
Friday had already given the lyrics: the Ducati shone in the intense heat of the Sachsenring on Saturday (18). The factory from Borgo Panigale placed seven of the eight bikes in the decisive phase of qualifying and secured pole position for the German GP with Francesco Bagnaia, who had already been outstanding throughout practice and set a new record for the Chemnitz track, the first lap in 1min19s in history.
In qualifying this afternoon, when the lights came back on - after a power failure had delayed the start of qualifying - the Italian set a lap of 1min19s930 to secure the top spot by 0s076 seconds ahead of second-placed Fabio Quartararo. Johann Zarco, who was first at Sachsenring last year, was third, 0.023s behind the reigning champion.
"I'm happy, we did a good job. We made a little mistake with the tires during Q2. We wanted to set up three first, then we decided on two, but in the end I couldn't take advantage of the third tire," he explained.
Strong in lapping, Bagnaia stressed that the important thing will be to have a constant pace throughout the 30 laps of the race in Germany.
"We have good pace. It wasn't pace because of the heat and the wind, but we did a good TL4 and now we're down to [1min]19s, which is always nice to see," he commented. "The conditions were very, very difficult, and on a circuit like this where you can't stop doing things for the whole lap, everything is more difficult. And the back wheel heats up a lot, so it's tricky to be constant, but the pace is good and I'm happy and ready for the race," he stressed.
Even though he sees himself prepared, Pecco assumed that he still doesn't know what his choice of tires will be for the race. "I don't know which tire I will use," he stated.
As happened in Catalunya, Bagnaia expects Quartararo to be his main rival in the German GP, since, even though he doesn't seem to have that much pace, at race time the championship leader always grows.
"It won't be easy to fight against a rider like Fabio, but what I have to do is always try to get ahead of him," commented Pecco, who is 66 points behind the Frenchman in the MotoGP standings.
Dissatisfied with the speed of the Yamaha throughout the year, Quartararo did enough to counter the might of the Ducati to secure second place, but was especially pleased with his performance on soft tires, something he credited to a change in mentality.
"I am very happy, because both on Friday and Saturday we were not able to be in the top five with the soft," Fabio commented. "But when qualifying came, I made a mental change and tried to extract the best lap," he continued.
"This second place is fantastic, as is the pace we set in TL4 with both tires. I was in 'qualifying mode' from the first lap. I think that, regardless of the tires, we have a high potential for the race," he pondered.
Due to the characteristics of the track and the strong heat, the Sachsenring circuit is one of the most difficult on the calendar. And the Frenchman pointed out that the choice of tires is not so clear yet.
"At the moment I haven't decided yet, I'm 50-50. They are two tires that make me have to compete in two very different ways, but both have high performance potential to fight for the top positions," he noted.
In a weekend in which the Ducati's strength was evident, Fabio is alert to the Italian power, but not only in relation to the Desmosedici. The Frenchman is also keeping an eye on the potential of Aleix Espargaró.
"We are already used to seeing Italian bikes in the first ranks," Fabio commented. "Aleix is very strong in the first laps. Johann [Zarco] is also strong, and I think we will have three or four riders who will be strong at the start," he predicted.
"There will be a more nurtured group at the beginning, and then it will separate. It's a very long race, but today I didn't feel any heat when I was driving. When I stopped you were hot, but piloting is not so bad. I think the hardest thing will be to keep my concentration for 30 laps," he said.
Close to the front row, Johann celebrated the good result, especially since he believes that his starting position will determine the outcome of the German GP.
"I'm really happy, we did a great job," Zarco celebrated. "It was very hot and it wasn't easy, but we still managed to bring home a very important front row, which will be crucial for tomorrow's race," he defended.
"The feeling with the bike is very good," he summed up.
Although Bagnaia and Quartararo stood out in terms of pace, the two were not the only ones who showed a strong pace on the German track. Opening the second row, Aleix Espargaró ended the sequence of top-3 on the grid, but remains a candidate for victory thanks to the solid performance of the RS-GP.
"I thought I could fight for pole. At this circuit, everything was tight and in the end I ended up a tenth away," Aleix said. "I made a little mistake in the morning, suffered a crash in TL4 just before the time trial, and lost a little bit of confidence, especially in the last sector. I lacked a tenth to be able to fight with Pecco for the pole position", he summarized.
Fourth on the grid, Aleix is out of the front row for the first time since the Americas GP, when he left 13th.
"Obviously, after having started on the front row in the last six races, you want to stay up there, but I think fourth is a good position too," he assessed.
The father of little Max and Mia pointed out that the choice of tires will be vital to be able to keep up with the pace of Quartararo and Bagnaia in Germany.
"The race pace with the rear hard tire between Pecco, Fabio and me is quite similar, I don't think it will be a speed problem, it will be more about trying not to destroy the tire" he commented. "Although the race distance is always more or less the same, with 30 laps, the left side of the tire gets destroyed, so we must not only be very fast, but also conserve the tire," he added.
New to MotoGP, Fabio Di Giannantonio will come out fifth, a result that made him more than happy, but there is still one concern: an allergic crisis that has been bothering him.
"I have to say that I'm suffering a little too much from the German air, since I didn't know I had allergies... this morning I suffered a lot in TL3, more regarding the physical issue than the physical one.This morning I suffered a lot in TL3, more in relation to the physical issue than anything else, since the bike is good and I'm getting better and better with it," said Di Giannantonio. "We were super fast in qualifying and if it wasn't for a mistake in turn 1, maybe we could have fought for pole-position. It's good to be up there anyway, so hopefully the allergy won't be a problem tomorrow," he tweeted.
0s219 slower than his teammate, Jack Miller closes the second row of the grid, but he will have to do a long lap, because he had a crash at a moment when he should have reduced speed because of a crash by Aleix Espargaró.
"The goal in qualifying is always the first two rows, so I'm very happy with today's result," Jack pointed out. "We had an eventful afternoon: in TL4 I had a small crash, and in qualifying I went for the first attack time with the second bike, with which I had already had some problems in the morning that unfortunately we hadn't been able to solve," he continued.
"I then went back on track with the first moto, but even then I had some problems that slowed me down. Unfortunately, in TL4, I crashed when I had a yellow flag, so I will be forced to do a long lap in the race," he lamented. "Anyway, we have good pace, so I hope to have a good race tomorrow," he added.
Following the good line he has started since the Italian GP, Luca Marini secured seventh place, but he was not at all satisfied, as he feels he could not gather all his best in a single spin.
"The third row in qualifying is not bad, even if I had more difficulties with the temperature rise today," Luca spoke. "I tried the front mid today in TL3 and I didn't feel comfortable, so I preferred the hard in TL4 and the feeling was better. We still have margin," he pondered.
"I would like to be faster and we can work on race pace as well. In qualifying, I did my best, but I couldn't put everything in place and do a perfect lap. With the soft rear tire, I felt good, but in the long-run. I lost confidence to be able to fight with the leaders", he evaluated.
The only Ducati not to reach Q2, Enea Bastianini admitted he is not happy with the result and regretted the absence of Alberto Giribuola. The team's chief mechanic is away with Covid-19.
"Obviously, I'm not happy. We felt Alberto's absence. I'm not making excuses, but it's a fact," he commented. "We also didn't get lucky with that checkered flag at the end of Q1. We simply have to work, but tomorrow's race will be difficult. The goal is to finish the race to regain confidence and not lose any more points," he closed.
The MotoGP start for the German GP at Sachsenring is scheduled for 09:00 (Brasilia time) on Sunday (19).GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.