Francesco Bagnaia became the first man to lap the Sachsenring in under 1:20s on a motorcycle en-route to leading the way in FP3 ahead of the German Grand Prix.
The Italian picked up where he left off after leading the way on Friday as the final set of runs began towards the end of FP3, Bagnaia keen to get back the top spot he lost after Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro managed to post a pair of laps under his Friday record – the Spaniard’s 1:20.007s leaving him atop the standings.
The factory Ducati rider pulled out a couple of stunning efforts of his own though, first banging in a 1:19.833s to become the first man to ever lap the Sachsenring circuit in under 1:20s on two wheels before improving his gambit to a 1:19.765s on his following and last attempt.
This would prove enough to keep the session leadership until the very end, Espargaro managing to improve his time once again at the death to break the Ducati monopoly up front by taking second overall – just 0.064s adrift of Bagnaia.
Jack Miller managed to recover after being baulked by Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco on his first run to end up third fastest ahead of the Frenchman and his team-mate Jorge Martin, who was the last man to lap underneath the 1:20s barrier.
Series leader Fabio Quartararo saw his chances of improving dashed by yellow flags caused by LCR Honda pair Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami crashing at different points of the track, his pain being further induced after having to return to the pits due to his helmet visor coming loose.
He therefore had to make do with sixth ahead of Suzuki’s Joan Mir and VR46’s Luca Marini, while Nakagami and the sister Aprilia of Maverick Vinales held onto the final guaranteed-Q2 berths.
KTM’s Miguel Oliveira just missed out on a direct pole shootout opportunity despite lapping within the top ten in the session due to Marini’s FP3 effort enough to keep him eighth overall, the Portuguese needing just 0.020s in the end to bump Vinales.
Marco Bezzecchi was fastest rookie in 12th despite an early crash at Turn 12, the Italian just shading countryman and Gresini rider Fabio Di Gianantonio for the position.
Brad Binder was 15th on the second factory KTM ahead of Remy Gardner’s Tech 3 entry, while Enea Bastianini’s tough weekend continued after he could muster up only 18th on the timesheets just behind the injured Alex Rins.
