Quartararo sets fourth fastest time in qualifying and Jorge Navarro places eighth. Maria Herrera gets caught in heavy traffic and finishes session twenty-eighth.
The German GP weekend has not been easy for the Repsol riders at Sachsenring, but despite the difficulties they continue to improve session-by-session. In the morning practice, the third of the weekend, Fabio Quartararo ‒ 1:26.793 ‒ finished second. He was 0.619s off Danny Kent, who has dominated proceedings so far. Teammate Jorge Navarro set the eighteenth fastest time, 1.7s off Kent’s time, and Maria Herrera was twenty-sixth ‒ 2 seconds off the Briton’s pace.
In the qualifying session, heavy traffic on track and riders looking for a tow hindered work considerably. Quartararo left it until the last moment to make his attempt at a pole lap. With just 30 seconds to go before the end of the session, he put in a time that placed him third behind Kent and Karel Hanika, but eventually Enea Bastianini snatched second and the Repsol rider dropped to fourth place. He will take off from the second row tomorrow.
Jorge Navarro improved his lap time from the morning by just over half a second, and that allowed him to clinch eighth place in the qualifying session. That ensures a start tomorrow from the third row of the grid. Maria Herrera suffered considerably from the heavy traffic. Her times in the two sessions were practically identical ‒ with a crash in the morning ‒ and she will start the German GP from twenty-eighth.
Fabio Quartararo
4th – 1:26.968, 38 laps, 139 km
“I wanted to be on the front row, but starting from the second row is also good. It was a rather difficult session because this morning we had more favourable temperatures, then for qualifying they rose again, like yesterday. In addition, many riders stopped in the middle of the track ‒ we’ll see if this time a penalty is applied. For tomorrow I think I have a good pace, because I rode a lot of laps in the 1’27’s by myself. Kent will try to pull away tomorrow, but I will do my best to stay with him, because I think that with him as a reference I can improve my pace by about three tenths.”
Jorge Navarro
8th – 1:27.253, 41 laps, 151 km
“This weekend we have found it a bit tricky to adapt to the circuit, but we are working very hard and we are taking steps forward, which is the most important thing. From yesterday to today we have improved the setup and I’ve also changed my riding. For tomorrow, we have to go a step further and improve the feeling with the rear tyre ‒ especially in the twisty sections. At the beginning of the qualifying session I was able to ride alone, but the last few laps were done in a group. This lost me a couple of tenths, but it is also true that I benefited from a tow and could improve my lines in places. If we continue to work well, I hope to have a good race tomorrow.”
Maria Herrera
28th – 1:28.162, 32 laps, 117 km
“It was a tough day. In the last session I crashed, I have some pain in my shoulder and I did not feel entirely comfortable on the bike. The team worked very hard, but I still have to improve some things -since Sachsenring is not a track that quite suits my style. For tomorrow I think we have a good setup and a good pace, so I will need to make a comeback: I’ll try to make a good start and position myself in a group, which I think will be large.”
