Miguel Oliveira posted a stunning final flyer in the closing stages of FP2 for the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring to lead the way at the end of Friday.
The KTM ace had a quiet opening outing in FP1 on his way to 12th overall, though came out swinging in the early moments of second practice to post the fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:21.496s to lead the way-though he was swiftly demoted to second by Marquez.
Oliveira was one of many riders to head out for a final sequence of laps on fresh tyres as the session reached its climax, the Portuguese racer firing in a rapid 1:20.696s tour to open up a 0.220s lead over second-placed Fabio Quartararo.
Series leader Quartararo was bested by Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales shortly following his penultimate effort, though he fought back on his final gambit to head the Spaniard by just over a tenth-of-a-second.
Alex Rins continued to show strong form on his competition return after missing the Catalan GP through injury, the Suzuki pilot managing the fourth best time ahead of Pol Espargaro despite the Honda man crashing once again in the early stages.
Takaaki Nakagami again looked speedy on his way to sixth on his LCR-run RC213-V ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, with Johann Zarco the top Ducati runner in eighth for Pramac.
Jack Miller ended Friday as the highest classified factory Desmosedici in ninth overall, while Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli completed the top ten.
FP1 leader Marc Marquez elected not to head out on fresh rubber in the closing seconds as he continued to focus on running race simulations, meaning he heads into Saturday 12th in the combined times.
Jorge Martin snagged the accolade of top rookie in 14th on the second Pramac machine as he improved late on, two-tenths clear of next best newcomer Luca Marini in 18th.
The Avintia man looked to possess impressive speed early on as he followed Miller to post the second quickest time, though a late crash combined with the bulk of the field improving meant he ultimately fell well outside the top 15 by the time the chequered flag was shown.
Reigning MotoGP world champion Joan Mir ended the day 16th just behind the second factory KTM of Brad Binder, while the other Petronas SRT Yamaha entry of Valentino Rossi once again failed to trouble the front-runners.
The seven-time premier class champion ended the session only 21st after crashing at Turn 1 around two-thirds of the way through the test, leaving him ahead of only the struggling Francesco Bagnaia on the timesheets well over a second down on Oliveira’s benchmark.
| # | Rider | Team | Time | Gap / Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’20.690 | |
| 2 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’20.910 | 0.220 / 0.220 |
| 3 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’21.023 | 0.333 / 0.113 |
| 4 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’21.077 | 0.387 / 0.054 |
| 5 | Pol ESPARGARO | Repsol Honda Team | 1’21.108 | 0.418 / 0.031 |
| 6 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’21.131 | 0.441 / 0.023 |
| 7 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’21.143 | 0.453 / 0.012 |
| 8 | Johann ZARCO | Pramac Racing | 1’21.181 | 0.491 / 0.038 |
| 9 | Jack MILLER | Ducati Lenovo Team | 1’21.192 | 0.502 / 0.011 |
| 10 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’21.228 | 0.538 / 0.036 |
| 11 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing | 1’21.282 | 0.592 / 0.054 |
| 12 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’21.291 | 0.601 / 0.009 |
| 13 | Alex MARQUEZ | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’21.293 | 0.603 / 0.002 |
| 14 | Jorge MARTIN | Pramac Racing | 1’21.398 | 0.708 / 0.105 |
| 15 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’21.426 | 0.736 / 0.028 |
| 16 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’21.453 | 0.763 / 0.027 |
| 17 | Iker LECUONA | Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing | 1’21.568 | 0.878 / 0.115 |
| 18 | Luca MARINI | SKY VR46 Avintia | 1’21.595 | 0.905 / 0.027 |
| 19 | Enea BASTIANINI | Avintia Esponsorama | 1’21.702 | 1.012 / 0.107 |
| 20 | Lorenzo SAVADORI | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’21.878 | 1.188 / 0.176 |
| 21 | Valentino ROSSI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’21.968 | 1.278 / 0.090 |
| 22 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati Lenovo Team | 1’22.211 | 1.521 / 0.243 |
