Zarco takes stunning Sachsenring pole, but crashes on final lap

Johann Zarco will start the Sachsenring MotoGP from pole position after an enthralling Q2 that also saw the French rider crash at turn four. 

Zarco set a blistering time of 1:20.236s - 0.011s faster than Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo on what turned out to be his final flying lap, as the Pramac Ducati rider crashed on his next effort. 

Zarco’s bike took a pretty big hit on its way to the air fence which brought out yellow flags. 

This resulted in lap times being unimproved upon as there was only a minute of the session remaining. 

Behind Zarco and Quartararo in third was Aleix Espargaro who secured his first ever front row start for Aprilia. 

As was the case for much of this weekend, Jack Miller was extremely quick in sectors one and two, but sector three proved difficult once again as he narrowly missed out on the front row by +0.061s

Starting fifth is Marc Marquez as the eight-time world champion has been beaten in a Sachsenring qualifying session for the first time in his career. 

However, Marquez’ pace in FP4 was one of the best and most consistent which should translate to a podium challenge at the very least. 

One place behind Marquez is another of the pre-race favourites in Miguel Oliveira, while seventh went to Jorge Martin who was as high as third after the initial Q2 runs.

Rounding out the third row are the Hondas of Pol Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami. Tenth is Francesco Bagnaia who has struggled relative to Miller and Zarco so far this weekend. 

It was a disastrous qualifying for all other Yamaha riders, but especially Maverick Vinales, as the Qatar race one winner will start 21st. Vinales was unable to improve on his final lap in Q1 due to a yellow flag being waved at turn 13 after Franco Morbidelli suffered a crash. 

As was the case in FP3, turn 1 proved a huge sticking point for riders as Iker Lecuona crashed there for the second time today. Nakagami also went down at the same corner on his last lap in Q2. The other faller in qualifying was Lorenzo Savadori at turn 12 when following Joan Mir in Q1.