KTM’s Miguel Oliveira showed no signs of losing his impressive recent form as he concluded Friday’s German MotoGP practice firmly in control of the times.
As temperatures soared in Saxony, the Barcelona winner took charge with a 1’20.690, one of only two riders to break the 1’21 barrier. The other, Fabio Quartararo, sat second ahead of his Yamaha teammate, Maverick Viñales with Alex Rins completing the top-four, just four-tenths adrift.
Oliveira led the way for the second Friday practice at the Sachsenring before Marc Marquez was back in charge with his fourth lap. The Repsol rider navigating the anti-clockwise circuit on hard-hard tyres with brother Alex in tow as the session began, the LCR man placing sixth in the early stages.
Oliveira was on another hot lap as he advanced the session and overall pace with a 1’21.496, Tech3’s Danilo Petrucci seeming to get to grips with the new KTM chassis as he found third before Viñales demoted him to fourth. Aleix Espargaro was firmly in the mix, in fifth, from Johann Zarco as Takaaki Nakagami found his rhythm in seventh. Pol Espargaro suffered another crash, at turn three as the opening 10-minutes concluded, with Rins, Marquez and Jack Miller completing the initial top-10.
Espargaro improved the Aprilia’s pace with his 11th lap as he became the next to claim third, Luca Marini promoting himself to seventh shortly after as he set his bid for Q2 promotion. The Italian was on a role as he stormed to second with his ninth effort, sitting just 0.149s behind the leading KTM in both the FP2 and combined times.
Further down the standings, Brad Binder made his way to 13th, as Quartararo and Joan Mir circulated in 17th and 18th as they concentrated on race runs. Valentino Rossi split the pair next time around before demoting them both with his following attempt to sit narrowly behind his teammate Franky Morbidelli.
Marquez was on a mission as the second half counted down, the Spaniard assaulting the times with a 1’21.291 after his previous effort fell short, to lead the way by two-tenths of a second and 15-minutes left to run.
The Suzuki’s were the next to charge as Rins found third and Mir sixth, Rossi crashing out at turn one with 12-to-go.
The end of session lull ahead of the final shootout saw the entire pack return to the pits. Pecco Bagnaia the first to hit the track as the Ducati rider looked to improve from 15th but it was his teammate Miller who looked to be setting the initial red helmets before the lap fell away in the final sectors.
Petrucci and Marini were impressing again as the pair each claimed third in quick succession, Nakagami hitting the top spot with a 1’21.131 as Miller and Aleix Espargaro squabbled for second behind. Quartararo joined the fight with his 20th attempt initially taking first before the second M1 stole the lead by a mere 0.023s, Oliveira proving he was far from done as he too returned to the front moments later.
The Yamaha battle continued as Quartararo outmanoeuvred Viñales in the top-three, Rins, Pol Espargaro and Nakagami holding fast in the top-six as the chequered flag prepared.
Aleix Espargaro took seventh from Zarco, Miller and Morbidelli with Petrucci disappointed to be knocked out of Q2 contention in 11th. Marquez failed to launch a challenge in the second half of the session, choosing instead to circulate on used tyres until the end, completing FP2 in 12th and one position ahead of his younger brother.
Jorge Martin claimed 14th from Binder, Mir and Iker Lecuona, with Marini suffering a fast late crash leaving him sitting alongside fellow Avintia rider Enea Bastianini in 18th and 19th. Lorenzo Savadori headed Rossi with question marks surrounding Bagnaia at the back of the field.
