Francesco Bagnaia shattered the lap record at the Sachsenring circuit to lead a Ducati 1-2-3 in FP2 for the German Grand Prix.
Leading on from FP1 on Friday morning, Ducati immediately looked to stamp its authority on the field as Pramac rider Jorge Martin quickly lapped underneath early event leader Jack Miller’s opening session effort to head the way before team-mate Johann Zarco moved clear on a 1:21.093s.
Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia enjoyed time at the top of the timesheets courtesy of a strong effort from the Spaniard – a 1:20.789s – though Miller banged in a storming 1:20.211s later on to re-establish the Desmosedici at the head of the times.
It would be team-mate Bagnaia that would take Friday spoils though as he posted a pair of gambits fast enough to break Marc Marquez’s two-wheeled lap record of the German venue, the Italian’s 1:20.018s enough to grant him the accolade of leading the field into Saturday.
Luca Marini banged in an impressive tour on his VR46-run Ducati to end the day second quickest as Miller completed the Ducati trio up front, with Espargaro ending up fourth in the end.
Zarco and Martin were fifth and sixth overall respectively on their Pramac entries ahead of series leader Fabio Quartataro, while the sister Aprilia of Maverick Vinales was eighth.
Fabio Di Gianantonio once again showed stout one-lap performance to end the day ninth as best rookie ahead of Suzuki’s Joan Mir, the 2020 MotoGP world champion just edging team-mate Alex Rins for the spot.
Takaaki Nakagami was Honda’s fastest representative in 12th just ahead of Enea Bastianini – who fell victim to Turn 1 early on after running through the gravel – while Miguel Oliveria was KTM’s quickest gun down in 17th, the Portuguese having run within the top ten for the bulk of the test.
Stefan Bradl slipped to 20th by the time the chequered flag was waved having given his home fans something to cheer about by moving briefly into the top ten in the closing stages.
Keyword: Bagnaia smashes Sachsenring lap record to lead German GP FP2