Andrea Dovizioso continued his top form this morning as he put the Ducati at the top of the time sheets in Free Practice 1, ahead of Maverick Viñales and Dani Pedrosa.
The track at the Sachsenring has recently been resurfaced and no teams have had the ability to test on the new asphalt. To help, each Free Practice session has been extended by 10 minutes and Michelin have brought four front and rear tyre options for the teams and riders to choose from.
The first session was not without its falls, which included Andrea Iannone, Scott Redding, Alvaro Bautista and Tito Rabat. There was also an early mechanical failure for Valentino Rossi.
The top 10 from FP1 was as follows:
- Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team + 1:21.599
- Maverick Viñales, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP + 0.038
- Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team + 0.190
- Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 0.233
- Alvaro Bautista, Pull&Bear Aspar Team + 0.241
- Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team + 0.299
- Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 0.374
- Danilo Petrucci, OCTO Pramac Racing + 0.393
- Jack Miller EG 0,0 Marc VDS + 0.469
- Scott Redding, OCTO Pramac Racing + 0.476
Rain, which is predicted for much of the weekend, meant Free Practice 2 was a wet session, with the track beginning to dry slightly once the rain had stopped.
Yamaha seemed to be struggling in the tricky conditions as Jonas Folger on the Tech 3 machinery in 8th was the fastest on the Japanese machinery with Zarco, Viñales and Rossi trailing behind in 18th, 20th and 15th respectively.
Hector Barbera took the top spot in the closing minutes of the session, from Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa while Andrea Iannone did anything but impress during today’s sessions, finishing both in last place.
Top 10 for FP2:
- Hector Barbera, Reale Avintia Racing 1:28.115
- Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team + 0.063
- Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team + 0.353
- Danilo Petrucci, OCTO Pramac Racing + 0.353
- Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 0.412
- Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda + 0.501
- Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team + 0.638
- Jonas Folger, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 0.873
- Sam Lowes, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 0.879
- Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati Team + 0.902
