2023-06-16 20:16:50
The Italian rider beat Spaniards Jorge Martin and Aleix Espargaro this Friday during practice on the German MotoGP Grand Prix circuit.
Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46) was the fastest in the first two qualifying practice sessions for the German Grand Prix on Friday, ahead of Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, 6th fastest on the Sachsenring, the scene of a impressive clash between the Frenchman Johann Zarco and the Spaniard Marc Marquez at the end of the day. “El Diablo” finally finds the Top 10: passed through the “draft” box during the last three weekends of GP, Quartararo signs his return among the leaders: “it’s nice“, savors the 24-year-old Niçois. “I didn’t have the best feeling but the most important thing was to qualify in the top ten».
Under threatening skies and cool temperatures, far from the 25 degrees expected on Sunday for the race, the 2021 world champion took the 6th fastest time at the end of the second session, ahead of the Italians Luca Marini (Ducati-VR46) and Enea Bastinini (Ducati), 7th and 8th. At the head of the peloton, Bezzecchi beat the Spaniards Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), as well as the reigning Italian champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), 4th on the handlebars of his Ducati. Spaniard Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) and Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) – best time after the first session in the morning – complete the Top 10.
Far behind, the king of Sachsenring Marc Marquez, looking for a ninth victory in nine participations in the MotoGP category, is only 14th on the time sheet, synonymous with repechage. In difficulty on Friday afternoon on the handlebars of his Honda – and visibly frustrated according to images broadcast on the screen where we see the six-time MotoGP world champion giving his machine the middle finger – he explained: “I avoided a fall in a very fast corner, the adrenaline was very high and the body reacted like that, because I had already had a lot of warnings». «We need to figure out how to ride smoother or a bit slower to avoid this kind of situation.“, he continued.
Zarco et Marquez «very lucky»
Only the ten best times combined from these two practice sessions qualified directly for the second part of Q2 qualifying on Saturday morning, during which the first places on the starting grid for the sprint on Saturday (3:00 p.m.) and the GP Sunday (2:00 p.m.). The others like Marquez will have to go through a repechage (Q1) on Saturday from 10:50 a.m., the two fastest of which are drafted for Q2.
Read alsoMotoGP: the impressive images of the violent clash between Marquez and Zarco (video)
If the first practice session run on Friday morning was only slightly disturbed by the showers, in the afternoon, the last tests were more hectic. First interrupted a few minutes after a heavy fall by the Japanese Takaaki Nakagami (Honda-LCR), an accident without gravity for the driver, the second session was again suspended due to a violent collision between Marc Marquez and Johann Zarco. The first fell before hitting the second, which was coming out of the pits. “If anyone of us could have avoided this situation, it’s Johann, not me.“, lambasted the Spaniard on Friday evening. “He should have looked behind (…), we were very lucky to get out of it without problems both».
«It was a kind of racing accident, it can happen (…) I was very careful“, defended the Cannes, whose motorcycle was split in two in the accident. “He should think twice before saying it’s my fault, it’s not acceptable“, he said again. More fear than harm for the two pilots who said Friday evening that they were fine.
. Combined classification of the two German GP practice sessions in MotoGP held on the Sachsenring circuit (3.67 km):
1. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46) en 1:20.271
2. Jorge Martin (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) 0.040
3. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) at 0.081
4. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 0.100
5. Jack Miller (AUS/KTM) at 0.149
6. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) at 0.352
…
10. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Pramac) 0.431
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