Marini makes progress in Germany
A blustery day at the Sachsenring opened the weekend, Luca Marini putting his best foot forward to lead the Repsol Honda Team while Joan Mir looks to come back from an untimely fall.
In almost the blink of an eye the MotoGP World Championship was transported from Assen to the Sachsenring, and it was immediatley time to get out on track again. Conditions were cool as Free Practice 1 began in the morning, Luca Marini getting to work straight away to right the wrongs of the previous round. Ending the morning in 19th, the Italian would find over a second between sessions to conclude the day with a best lap of 1’20.868. 17th overall and just 0.2s from Zarco, the leading Honda, Marini is content with Friday’s progress but knows there is still much more to do.
On the other side of the Repsol Honda Team garage, Joan Mir endured a more trying day. Starting the day in 21st, he and his team made solid progress to improve his feeling with the Honda RC213V for the afternoon session but a fall at Turn 1 would scupper his chances of improvements. He finished in 22nd.
The work will continue overnight for both Repsol Honda Team riders to achieve their maximum. Forecasts remain mixed as to what conditions Saturday will present.
Luca Marini
“We’ve been able to make a good step today compared to where we started, but there’s still more work to do. There was a lot of wind today which made everything quite tricky, you have to stay really focused every lap. Corner entry is an area that we can still make some improvements in, so this will be one of the focuses for tomorrow.”
Joan Mir
“Honestly today was a really tough day for us, we went the wrong way with the setting – it was a risk that unfortunately didn’t pay off. In the afternoon we found a better setup, but I had a crash when I started to really push, and this upset the final part of practice. The objective for tomorrow is to be more competitive, to at least be with the other Honda riders and restart what we were doing at the start of the year in races.”
Motorrad Grand Prix von Deutschland- Friday Practice
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vinales Maverick | 12 | SPA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 01'19.622 |
| 2 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 0.340 |
| 3 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 0.362 |
| 4 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 0.407 |
| 5 | Bagnaia Francesco | 1 | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.439 |
| 6 | Bastianini Enea | 23 | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.463 |
| 7 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 0.464 |
| 8 | Acosta Pedro | 31 | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 | KTM | 0.520 |
| 9 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.658 |
| 10 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 0.662 |
| 11 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 0.663 |
| 12 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 0.722 |
| 13 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 0.762 |
| 14 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 0.785 |
| 15 | Fernandez Augusto | 37 | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 | KTM | 0.991 |
| 16 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | LCR Honda | Honda | 1.046 |
| 17 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1.246 |
| 18 | Nakagami Takaaki | 30 | JPN | LCR Honda | Honda | 1.264 |
| 19 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 1.279 |
| 20 | Gardner Remy | 87 | AUS | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1.783 |
| 21 | Bradl Stefan | 6 | GER | HRC Test Team | Honda | 1.952 |
| 22 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 2.225 |
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 | 1m 19.423s (166.3km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Lap | 1m 20.667s (163.8km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Time | 40m 40.087s (162.4km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati,2024) |
| 2024 Race Winner | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2024 Sprint Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
