Andrea Iannone pipped Danilo Petrucci to top spot in MotoGP FP3 by 0.099 seconds, while Andrea Dovizioso will face Q1 for the German Grand Prix in 11th.
Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo came into Saturday's running fastest of all after posting a 1:20.885s in second practice on Friday afternoon.
This stood as the benchmark on the combined standings for much of FP3, with improvements inside the top 10 for the progression places for Q2 few and far between.
Championship leader Marc Marquez improved on his Friday best early on, the Honda rider putting in a 1:21.263s to go top in the session and fourth overall.
Valentino Rossi lifted himself up to seventh from 17th with a 1:21.391s not long after Marquez posted his best effort, though found himself outside of the top 10 come the final 10 minutes following a flurry of quick laps.
FP1 pacesetter Andrea Iannone was the first to usurp Lorenzo's Friday time with a 1:20.845s in the final 13 minutes, while LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow leaped up to third, 0.3s adrift.
Iannone's time at the top last only a moment, as Pramac's Danilo Petrucci guided his GP18 to a 1:20.786s. Rossi put this under threat with seven minutes to go, and missed out by just 0.026s.
Running a fresh soft tyre for a time attack for the first time this weekend, Marquez took over top spot with just under five minutes remaining with a 1:20.734s and was set to go quicker, but was impeded by a cruising Aleix Espargaro at the final corner.
A minute later, Aspar's Alvaro Bautista demoted the Honda rider with a 1:20.730s, before Petrucci regained control of the timsheets with a lap just under two tenths quicker than his Ducati stablemate's.
A final effort of 1:20.438s in the dying seconds from Iannone returned to the Suzuki rider to the top of the order, where he remained as the chequered flag brought the session to a close.
Petrucci was just 0.099s outside of his fellow Italian's time, while Crutchlow leaped up to third at the end ahead of Rossi and Bautista.
Marquez fell to sixth at the end, with Yamaha's Maverick Vinales just four hundredths of a second adrift in seventh. The final direct Q2 graduates were Lorenzo, Alex Rins and Dani Pedrosa, who ends his barren run of three-successive Q1 appearances.
Rins' 1:20.790s shoved Ducati's Dovizioso down into 11th, with the Italian going through Q1 for the second time this season having missed a place inside the top 10 by just 0.047s.
Dovizioso will face the first part of qualifying with Ducati stablemate Jack Miller, who was 13th in FP3 and 15th-placed Johann Zarco.
KTM test rider Mika Kallio suffered ligament damage to his right knee in a crash in FP2 on Friday, and will miss the remainder of the Sachsenring weekend.
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