What went down in rain-hit opening German GP MotoGP practice

Johann Zarco led the way in a rain-disrupted opening MotoGP practice session of the German Grand Prix weekend at the Sachsenring.

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Key moments:

> Rain doesn’t prevent qualifying sims

> Zarco heads Sachsenring star Marquez

> Espargaro third despite crash

> Works Yamahas go down in final minutes

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Rain flags had come out for some precipitation around the 18-minute mark, and it intensified just enough to leave the track virtually empty – save for a couple of ‘sighter’ runs – for the next 20 minutes.

But the surface was dry enough to set up a qualifying simulation in the final minutes, shuffling the top 10 hugely and allowing Zarco to lift himself up into the top spot, previously occupied by his Pramac Ducati team-mate Jorge Martin.

Zarco’s 1m20.702s left him a tenth and a half clear of Sachsenring master Marc Marquez, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro another half a tenth down in third.

Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez and Martin made it three Ducatis in the top five.

An early T1 tumble takes @AleixEspargaro off guard 💥

Not the best start to the weekend for the Spaniard ⚠️#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/708TNIq33o

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 16, 2023

Only three of the Sachsenring’s 13 official corners are right-handers, but all three crashes in the session took place at right-handers. Espargaro had fallen off early at Turn 1, limping away from the site of the fall as he continues to recover from what has been diagnosed as a double fracture in his heel following his phone-distracted bicycle crash at Mugello.

😱 @FrankyMorbido12's gone down at T11!

There will be some work to do in the Yamaha garage ahead of P2 🔧#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/3lzux5CBJB

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 16, 2023

The two works Yamahas then fell in the closing minutes, Franco Morbidelli down at the Ralf Waldmann corner and Fabio Quartararo off at Turn 1, albeit Quartararo had before managed that to set a laptime that ultimately proved good enough for sixth.

⚠️ @FabioQ20 crashes out too!

A disastrous conclusion to P1 for Yamaha! 😱#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/SMXmCS4MmY

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 16, 2023

KTM’s Brad Binder made it so that all five marques were represented in the top seven, followed by the Ducati trio of works rider Pecco Bagnaia, Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi.

LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, who has a Kalex chassis available to him this weekend due to the absence of works Honda rider Joan Mir, was 0.068s outside the top 10 in 11th.

Practice 1 Results