Zarco Takes Pole In Germany With Quartararo Second

Calum Gill 14:33 19/06/2021

Johann Zarco has taken pole position for the German motorcyle Grand Prix, bringing an end to Fabio Quartararo's run of five consecutive poles.

The Pramac rider set the best time at the Sachsenring despite crashing out at turn 4 in the latter stages of the session, with championship leader Quartararo in second place, 0.011 seconds the gap between the two Frenchmen. Aleix Espargaró made history for Aprilia by putting his bike in third, thereby completing the front row.

Jack Miller was fourth on the Ducati, while Marc Márquez, who had qualified on pole at the circuit every year since joining the premier class, could only manage fifth on his Repsol Honda. Miguel Oliveira - winner last time out in Catalunya - was sixth, ahead of Pramac's Jorge Martín. Pol Espargaró, who had progressed from Q1, and Takaaki Nakagami will join the Spaniard Martín on the third row. Francesco Bagnaia, Álex Rins and Álex Márquez completed the order in Q2.

Earlier on, a whole host of big names failed to get into Q2, including Brad Binder, who came closest to mixing with Rins and Pol Espargaró - who had spent most of the session in the transfer spots - but ultimately came up 0.036 seconds short. The South African will lead Luca Marini and Enea Bastianini on row five. Valentino Rossi, Joan Mir, Maverick Viñales and Franco Morbidelli also failed to get out of the first session, and will all start further down the order than what they would have liked.