With drama and Race Direction changing the direction of the qualifying session, who will come out on top?
Q1
The Sachsenring is a very unique track. Much like Catalunya, the German GP has more left hand turns that right. It is also one of the only tracks where getting in the slipstream of another rider has very little affect. This is also a track where the usual top contenders aren’t always there; we usually see riders from lower in the championship battle it out.
There are a lot of big names in the Q1 session: Jaume Masia, Deniz Oncu, Darryn Binder, Gabriel Rodrigo, Riccardo Rossi and Jeremy Alcoba. The riders need to be very careful this time around in result of the tactics used at the last race in Catalunya.
The first set fast laps show Rodrigo, Ryusei Yamanaka, Masia and Binder at the top. Alcoba, who is barely missing out on the top four, is facing a few important elements right now. One, with many Moto2 riders leaving the field to join MotoGP, seats are opening up. It puts the pressure on everyone, but especially those on the machines that match the Moto2 riders. For the most part, it would make sense that one of the Gresini riders go up. But who? Two, race direction is keeping a close eye on Alcoba since he one of the riders that first initiated the tactic in Catalunya. Finally, he suffered from a major highside in the earlier free practice sessions.
While Alcoba has a lot on his plate, all the riders in Moto3 were talked to by Race Direction.
As the riders head out for their final hot laps, Binder crashes out. He currently tops Q1, but will it stick? During the last sector, the Gresini riders both misjudge their timing and lose out on the chance to take another lap and move up to Q2.
The slow, but eventful last moment Q1 is lead by Binder, followed by Oncu, Yuki Kunii, and Masia.
Q2
Ahead of the session, all team members of Petronas and even a Dorna member is helping rebuild Binder’s bike after he crashed out at the very end of Q1.
While qualifying isn’t as detrimental to a rider’s performance in Moto3, the riders smell blood. With Pedro Acosta not seeing the podium in three races now, the race for second in the championship is now looking like the battle for it all. It’s on Acosta to push for the win and everyone else to stop him.
Before the laps come in, Oncu has crashed out of the session, which could stop him from starting high on the grid.
On the other hand, Binder is black flagged from Q2. During the end of Q1, he misjudged his speed and ran into Joel Kelso, which resulted in the South African crashing. While there usually wouldn’t be a punishment for an incident where it was clearly an accident, Race Direction is not messing around. They told the riders that there would be harsher punishments and they are coming through with that.
The front row is currently occupied by Filip Salac, Dennis Foggia and Kaito Toba.
After Toba crashes out and a yellow flag rolls out during the last laps, no other rider can compete with with Salac, who earned his maiden pole position.
The final front row is Salac, Foggia and Suzuki.
Despite the unusually slow qualifying session, Race Direction has promised to be merciless in Moto3. The race tomorrow is going to be anything but slow.
Who will come out on top?
Tune in tomorrow to find out.
