Bagnaia Sets New Lap Record In Sachsenring Practice
Calum Gill 15:28 17/06/2022
Ducati completed a clean sweep of MotoGP Friday practice at the Sachsenring, as Francesco Bagnaia led a 1-3 for the Bologna factory squad in FP2.
It only took a handful of minutes for the first sub-81 second lap of the weekend to arrive, courtesy of Aleix Espargaró - who remained at the top of the timing sheets for much of the session. But he was relegated to second by Jack Miller as the late-session soft-tyre runs commenced, before the other works Ducati of Bagnaia went a further tenth faster. Bagnaia then improved again to a 01:20.018, his benchmark stood almost two tenths clear of the Sachsenring lap record previously held by the currently-absent Marc Marquez. VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini likewise went under Marquez’s lap record, slotting in between Bagnaia and Miller, while Espargaro wound up 0.008 seconds behind KTM-bound Miller’s effort.
The Pramac Ducati duo of Johann Zarco and Jorge Martín - the latter fresh off carpal tunnel syndrome surgery - completed the top six. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was seventh for Yamaha, ahead of the second Aprilia of Maverick Viñales, yet another Ducati - that of Gresini rider Fabio Di Giannantonio - and Suzuki’s Joan Mir. Mir’s team-mate Álex Rins acquitted himself excellently despite nursing a fractured wrist, and finished 11th, 0.017 seconds behind his team-mate. There were no Hondas and no KTM bikes in the top 10, with the former manufacturer headed by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) in 12th and the latter led by the departing Miguel Oliveira in 17th.
