Jack Miller held the lead in the first free practice for more than half the session with 1min21s479. He was joined by Francesco Bagnaia, 0s015s behind
MotoGP began the German GP at Sachsenring with Jack Miller leading the first free practice session on Friday (17). In a very hectic morning, full of position exchanges, the Australian secured the lead of the session with 1min21s479.
The owner of the #43 bike left his teammate, Francesco Bagnaia, just 0s015 behind. Fabio Quartararo closed the top three positions with a lap of 1min21s557. Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami were fourth and fifth, respectively.
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Completing the top-10 are Aleix Espargaró, Luca Marini, Andrea Dovizioso, Jorge Martín and Álex Márquez.
The MotoGP TL2 for the German GP at Sachsenring, the tenth round of the season, will take place at 9:10 AM (EST).GRANDE PRÊMIO follows all the activities of the 2022MotoGP World Championship.
Find out how the first MotoGP practice session at Sachsenring went:
MotoGP found sunshine in the first free practice for the German GP. When the track was cleared for the 45-minute TL1, the thermometers measured 21ºC, with the asphalt reaching 32ºC. The relative humidity was around 46%, with the wind blowing at 5 km/h.
As soon as the Sachsenring circuit was cleared, the drivers left the pits and took to the track to start work. Joan Mir was the first to top the timesheet, with 1min24s867. He was soon overtaken by Franco Morbidelli, who set 1min24s350.
Aleix Espargaró dropped almost one second to 1min23s562. Mir tried to regain the lead seconds later with 1min23s226, but was soon overtaken by Franco Morbidelli again: 1min22s965. That didn't last long. Jorge Martin put Pramac in the lead with 1min22s081. Behind him came Mir, Fabio Quartararo, Morbidelli and Marini.
Johann Zarco jumped into second position behind his teammate. But he soon overtook him too: 1min21s791. Mir was second, Espargaró third. With only seven minutes of practice, the swapping of positions was numerous.
Aleix was in the lead when he got to 1min21s699, 0s020 behind Zarco. Takaaki Nakagami, who recovered from a bizarre accident at the Catalunya GP, was the one who jumped to second position. The Aprilia rider held on to his place for a few minutes, but Jack Miller was next to claim it with 1min21s479. Right behind was Fabio Quartararo, just 0s078 seconds behind.
The first crash was Andrea Dovizioso's at turn 1, but he got up without too much trouble. Pol Espargaró was the second to go down, at the same point. Like Andrea, the Honda rider got up calmly. Minutes later, it was the same with Álex Rins: a crash in the first corner.
With 10 minutes to go, Miller held the lead, but saw his teammate only 0s015 behind. Pol Espargaró had another nasty crash in turn 1. He struggled to get up, but managed to walk off the track.
With one minute to go, most of the riders took to the track for one last attempt. But no one could really threaten the top positions. The top-3 finished with Miller in the lead, Bagnaia behind, and Fabio Quartararo closing the top three positions.