The lap record fell again – and again, and again on Saturday morning in Germany
Another Free Practice session, another new All Time Lap Record at the Sachsenring. That was the story of MotoGP™ FP3 at the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland as the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia fended off the challenge of Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro for now. Pecco had only just set a new fastest ever lap around the German circuit on Friday afternoon, and he was the most rapid among a total of five riders to go even quicker again on Saturday morning when he set a 1:19.765.
Smashing through the 80-second barrier
No one had ever lapped the Sachsenring in less than 80 seconds before the MotoGP™ field arrived this weekend, and even Bagnaia came up 0.018 seconds shy of doing so in FP2. Aleix Espargaro then went tantalisingly close when he twice reset the Ducati rider’s brand-new All Time Lap Record with just over 10 minutes remaining in FP3, with a 1:20.013 and a 1:20.007 on back-to-back laps. He might have even lost some time when he happened upon Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) at the end of the latter lap, gesticulating at the Italian as a 1:19 continued to elude him.
Enter Bagnaia himself, who reclaimed top spot with a 1:19.833 and followed it up immediately with a 1:19.765, just over a quarter of a second quicker than he had gone in the second session of the weekend. Ducati Lenovo team-mate Jack Miller, who was on a hot lap with eight minutes to go when he was held up as Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing), regrouped to slot into second with a 1:19.873 in the final four minutes. An all-Desmosedici top two was on the cards for the third session in a row until Aleix Espargaro fired in a 1:19.829 moments later on his RS-GP, and that was how the top three would finish.
The twisty Sachsenring is not a track that should traditionally suit the Bologna bullets but Ducati has a well-rounded package these days, and their depth was on display when Prima Pramac Racing got both of its riders into the top five. Zarco and Jorge Martin both beat the by then-vanquished 1:20.018 All Time Lap Record from FP2 when they set a 1:19.959 and a 1:19.969 respectively. The fifth and final Desmosedici GP22 rider in the field, Mooney VR46 Racing Team’s Luca Marini, finished eighth on a 1:20.133.
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