2018 Sachsenring MotoGP Qualifying Result: Well They Gave It A Good Go

An extremely hot Sachsenring could only be the scene of a fiery battle and after the first run of laps, Maverick Viñales was already a tenth away from the circuit fastest lap. But that was barely the beginning of the story and while Marc Marquez was following his own three-run plotline, Danilo Petrucci was stealing the show at the front of the standings by robbing Jorge Lorenzo from provisional pole while tucked in behind his factory colleague.

The Ducatis looked as strong as ever but the Repsol Honda champ proceeded to squeeze himself in the microscopic gap between the two Ducatis on his penultimate lap. Another highlights reel moment costed Marquez that hundredth of a second that separated him from Petrucci but that caused no regret in the end as the reigning world champion went on to set the new pole position record on his very last try and his ninth consecutive pole at the Sachsenring.

With Marquez spoiling the Ducati party by two hundredths of a second, Petrucci was resigned to second and Lorenzo completed the front row of the grid, another three hundredths behind his Pramac colleague. Early leader Viñales was over a tenth of a second back – which seemed nearly gargantuan compared to the splits in the front row. Andrea Dovizioso had quite a bit of warmup ahead of this session after setting the hottest pace in FP4 and flying through Q1 but he ran out of steam slightly to qualify fifth, still leaving himself with great prospects for victory. Valentino Rossi found his way at the sharp end once again to complete the line-up on row two.

Cal Crutchlow finished seventh, four tenths off pole and with a somewhat disappointed Andrea Iannone and Alvaro Bautista in tow. Dani Pedrosa opens row four, ahead of Alex Rins and the other Q1 survivor, Takaaki Nakagami.

Aleix Espargaro missed out on a Q2 ticket by a mere nine thousandths of a second but to add insult to injury, the Aprilia man will serve a six-place grid penalty for impeding Marquez in FP3 and will have to make a start from 19th position. This will help Johann Zarco gain a place to 13th on the grid.

Results: