The Sachsenring belongs to Marc Marquez. He has been here eight times and taken pole position eight times, tomorrow we find out if he makes it eight wins as well. Much will depend on the weather, but Marc is quick wet or dry, as is his team mate Dani Pedrosa who starts from third having rediscovered his feel for the wet after misplacing it last weekend in the Netherlands.
Danilo Petrucci will start between the Hondas with a new Ducati factory contract in his pocket. He is on the front row for the third race in a row but this time there are no complaints about being robbed; Marc beat him fair and square. Nevertheless, as Danilo had to come through the first qualifying session it was some achievement.
Both factory Yamahas had problems with wheelspin in the wet but were competitive in the dry. However, starting from ninth and eleventh is not ideal on a track which is one-line from the first corner right round to the end of the long, downhill straight and Turn 12. You really don’t want to give Marc Marquez a start, especially round here.
Yet again, the riders have arrived at a track not really knowing how the tyres would work. The situation in Germany is complicated by the fact that the place has been completely resurfaced and there has been no testing. As you would hope, the Germans have done a great job. The surface is smooth, the bumps gone, and it is unbelievably grippy in the wet. Lap times in the wet tend to be 10% slower than the dry, but here it is under 7.5%, and there was only one crash in MotoGP qualifying.
Currently the forecast says it will be dry for the race so it is liable to be a game of catch the Marquez. It may be worth watching those three blokes not the second row though – Crutchlow, top Yamaha Folger, and Lorenzo. With only 11 points covering the top four in the championship and Pedrosa not that much further back, it seems that whatever happens the championship is likely to get even tighter. Not a bad way to go into the Summer break.
