Marquez returns to the top at Sachsenring

Full FP2 results at the German MotoGP

Marc Marquez has stormed back to lead Friday practice at the German MotoGP ahead of Alex Rins and FP1’s fastest rider Fabio Quartararo.

The reigning MotoGP world champion, who has nine consecutive pole positions and race victories at Sachsenring coming into this weekend, spent the majority of the second practice session focusing on back-to-back test runs between his carbon-covered and aluminium frames on his Repsol Honda RC213V.

But with 10 minutes of FP2 to go and a fresh soft rear tyre at his disposal, Marquez instantly upped the pace with a 1m 20.705s to edge clear of his rivals. That lap pushed long-time FP2 leader Alex Rins into second place for Suzuki, as he hopes to shake off the disappointment of crashing out while leading last weekend at Assen.

Quartararo could only reach third place and was visibly frustrated after having his final laps of FP2 wrecked by slower riders touring on track including his Petronas Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli.

Assen winner Maverick Vinales kept up his charge in fourth place on the Monster Yamaha as Pol Espargaro impressed by shooting up to fifth place with a last-lap effort on the Red Bull KTM.

Cal Crutchlow also used a late lap on fresh soft tyres to move up to sixth place on the LCR Honda ahead of leading Ducati charger Jack Miller. The Australian was the sole Pramac Ducati rider in action in FP2 with team-mate Francesco Bagnaia missing the session to undergo head and neck medical checks in hospital.

Factory Ducati duo Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso both grabbed top 10 places as Valentino Rossi narrowly kept inside the provisional Q2 places for Monster Yamaha.

That meant Aleix Espargaro just missed out in 11th place for Aprilia ahead of Morbidelli and Suzuki’s Joan Mir.

Local favourite Stefan Bradl, stepping in as Jorge Lorenzo’s injury replacement at Repsol Honda, ended his Friday 14th fastest ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.

Andrea Iannone failed to match his impressive FP1 pace for Aprilia in 16th place but in front of Avintia Ducait’s Karel Abraham and Tech3’s Miguel Oliveira.

Johann Zarco, Hafizh Syahrin and Tito Rabat rounded out the timesheet with Bagnaia out of action.