Marquez, Marini and Schrötter set up a showdown to remember at the Sachsenring.
Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) is on pole position for the HJC Helmets Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, coming through Q1 and setting a 1:23.585 to beat fellow Q1-protagonist Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) to the top by just 0.079. Home hero Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) completes a front row at the Sachsenring covered by 0.082, setting us up for another Sunday to remember in the intermediate class.
Marquez and Marini moved through Q1 along with Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up), who set a new all-time Sachsenring lap record in the session. He came out to set the early pace in Q2, a 1:23.944 the provisional benchmark, but the Spaniard later crashed at Turn 13, the same place he did in FP3 – rider ok. His session was over and while over a tenth under in the first sector, Free Practice pacesetter Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) also crashed out of contention at Turn 3 while sitting P13.
Marquez then went to the top of the times ahead of rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio (MB Conveyors Speed Up), with Schrötter taking P2 and Marini then taking second with 30 seconds to go. Ultimately,nNo one could topple Championship contender Marquez, who takes his first pole position since Malaysia 2018.
Di Giannantonio held onto P4 to get his best qualifying in the intermediate class, with the Italian spearheading the second row of the grid ahead of Assen winner Augusto Fernandez (FlexBox HP 40) and the leading KTM of Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM). 0.283 covers the top two rows. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) had a good session to finish seventh, the reigning Moto3™ World Champion enjoying his best Saturday afternoon Moto2™ result, with Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (FlexBox HP 40) completing the top ten.
Championship leader Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP), meanwhile, had a disappointing session and the Swiss rider has work to do from P12 as main rival Marquez launches from pole. Navarro is the man just ahead of him in P11, with Lowes just behind him. And Binder? His crash sees Friday’s fastest facing a fight back from P17.
Marquez is in a prime position to make up for the disappointment of Assen and try and take back that Championship lead. Can Lüthi stop him and move up from P12? A spectacular intermediate class race awaits as a top 18 covered by 0.8s get set for lights out on Sunday at 12:20 local time (GMT+2).
Qualifying results:
1 – Alex Marquez (SPA – Kalex) 1’23.585
2 – Luca Marini (ITA – KTM) +0.079
3 – Marcel Schrötter (GER – Kalex) +0.082
