Marquez sets the pace on day one in Germany with Pedrosa 5th
It’s been a positive first day in Sachsenring for the Repsol Honda Team after reigning World Champion, Marc Marquez, finished fastest in both practice sessions with teammate, Dani Pedrosa, just 0.268 seconds behind him in 5th.
With conditions improving from this morning’s cold temperature of 13ºC to 17ºC (and track by 10ºC from 22º to 32º), all but four of the MotoGP class improved their times this afternoon. The field is incredibly close at this tight and twisty 3.6km circuit with 15 riders within a second of each other.
Bridgestone brought the asymmetric front tyre for the first time this season. Marc used it at the end of FP1 and then stayed on it for the whole of FP2 to better understand its behaviour. He posted his best time of 1’21.621 (lap 25/25), comfortably under the circuit record lap set by Dani in 2011 (1’21.846). Dani, chose to stay on the standard tyres and finished the day in 5th with his time of 1’21.889 (lap 7/23).
Marc Marquez
"I think that today has been a positive day.We felt good, and that’s the important thing. It’s true that there was a strong wind that made things tough for everyone. We followed a good working plan but we still have things to improve. I don’t feel completely comfortable, but we can reflect positively on today. The important thing for the moment is that we are going well, but I am aware that tomorrow everyone will get better."
Dani Pedrosa
"It was a good first day and we tried some different bike setups and tyres in the practice sessions, but not the asymmetric front - perhaps we will try this tomorrow, we will have to wait and see. We have to make a step with the bike ahead of tomorrow as there are a few points of the circuit where we need to improve corner entry in particular, this will be the key to lowering our times our times."
Results Session
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Location Information
Car and bike races have been held on closed public roads in the area around the town of Chemnitz, Germany since the 1920s and were still taking place until as recently as 1990. It was decided, however, that the five mile course through such a densely populated area was no… read more.
| Length | 3.671 kilometres / 2.281 miles |
| Width | 12 metres |
| Left corners | 10 |
| Right corners | 3 |
| Longest straight | 0.700 kilometres / 0.435 miles |
| Constructed | 1996 |
| Modified | 2001 (resurfaced in 2017) |
Lerchenstraße, 09337 Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m19.931s (165.3km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022) |
| Race Lap | 1m21.228s (162.6km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2019) |
| Race Time | 41m 01.087s (161km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2015) |
| 2022 Race Winner | Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) |
| 2023 Sprint Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
