Today was a day of mixed fortunes for the Repsol Honda team during free practice and qualifying for the German Grand Prix, at the Sachsenring, with rookie Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) storming to pole position while team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) was helicoptered to hospital following a heavy fall this morning. The World Championship leader has a small fracture to his left collarbone and will reassess the situation tomorrow morning before deciding if he is able to race. Two weeks after the first front-row start of his premier-class career at Assen, local hero Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) was a close fourth fastest in front of his home crowd despite a low-speed fall during qualifying.

This was Marquez’s third premier-class pole (after Austin and Le Mans) and he did it in fine style, his second run putting him more than a tenth of a second in front of Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha), who had started the previous race at Assen from pole. Assen race winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) completed the front row in third place.

Marquez loves this tight and twisting track, and has won on his last three visits, once on a 125 and twice on a Moto2 bike. The 20-year-old reckons that the difference between riding a Moto2 bike and a MotoGP bike is less than at most circuits, simply because the Sachsenring is so full of corners that a MotoGP bike never gets the chance to really stretch its legs.

Pedrosa, who currently leads the points chase, fell during this morning’s FP3 session, run in cool temperatures and after a brief rain shower that had sent riders back to the pits, waiting for the rain to abate. His rear tyre let go a few laps later as he rode through the first turn. The tyre then gripped suddenly, triggering a huge highside that had the Spaniard landing heavily on his left shoulder. He previously broke his left collarbone at Motegi in 2010. After medical checks at the track Pedrosa was taken by helicopter to Chemnitz hospital for further examination.

Although he was unable to take part in qualifying, Pedrosa’s lap times from free practice automatically seed him into the race, in 12th position on the grid, though he has yet to decide if he will make the start.

Tomorrow’s race will certainly go ahead in the absence of reigning World Champion and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who crashed heavily yesterday, aggravating the left collarbone injury he sustained at Assen. The impact of the tumble bent the titanium plate inserted to fix the broken bone. Lorenzo currently sits second in the championship race, nine points behind Pedrosa. He also looks set to miss next weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Bradl was in the hunt for another front-row start when he slipped off at the low-speed Turn Three right-hander. He quickly rode back to the pits and continued the session on his second bike, ending up just 0.551 seconds behind Marquez.

Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) ended qualifying in eighth place. He made the mistake of letting his tyres cool down too much before pushing for his qualifying lap, though he believes he has a good enough race pace to stay in touch, so long as he gets a good start.

MotoGP rookie Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) had a nasty highside at turn four during QP1, which damaged his first machine. Although the Australian got back to the pits, his second bike was set up differently, so he didn’t have the confidence to push to the maximum. He will start the race from 22nd on the grid.





Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: pole position – 1m 21.311s

“I’m very happy with this pole position. It’s important to start from the front row at this circuit, since it’s quite difficult to overtake! I felt very comfortable, especially after the pace I had in FP4. In qualifying I struggled a little to get the most out of the bike, but things went better on our second exit. I think we have done a great job and we will try to do our best, have a good race and fight for the podium, and with a little luck for the victory. After I saw Dani’s crash this morning I was definitely a little more cautious going through turn one. I really hope he recovers quickly and can race tomorrow. It will be a difficult race, because Valentino will be fighting also Stefan and Cal, if he’s okay physically, will be up there as well.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 4th – 1m 21.862s

“We did a good job in FP4 and our consistency is very good. Actually, we have just missed one maximum fast lap in qualifying but I am still very pleased with my fourth place on the grid. Unfortunately I had a little crash on my first run because I hit a little bump. At least I was able to start the bike and get back to the garage. After that I jumped on bike two and pushed more than 100 per cent but I could not set the perfect lap time to make the front row. I really wanted a front-row start at my home race but we are quite happy anyway because we are doing a good job. It’s difficult to set any target because the race is very long, but I sternly want to perform well for my home crowd.”

Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 8th – 1m 22.484s

“We have made a slight improvement yesterday and found a bit more grip and confidence with the rear of the bike. We worked hard with the electronics and found some benefits that allowed me to improve my lap time. Unfortunately I made a mistake in qualifying and let the tyres get too cool before pushing for a fast lap. My race pace isn’t so bad but it will be important to get a good start if we are going to stay in touch with the lead group.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 12th – 1m 22.221s

“It was definitely a scary moment and I’m still not totally sure what happened. I hit my head hard and immediately felt a lot of pain in my shoulder and I checked to see if I could feel anything. Thankfully in the medical centre they saw it wasn’t broken but maybe a small fracture, and I was also feeling very dizzy but never lost consciousness. Just to be safe, we flew to Chemnitz Hospital for a CAT scan and then returned to the Clinica Mobile at the circuit. They confirmed I had a small fracture in my left collar bone but I am thankful it’s not a complete break. Now I will rest tonight and see how I feel in the morning. If I feel strong enough I will have the medical check to clear me for the race.”

Bryan Staring, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 22nd – 1m 27.273s

“Unfortunately when I came into turn four the rear came round on me and threw me into the air. It was a big crash and we didn’t need it. We went back out on the second bike but the set-up as different and I didn’t have the same confidence with it. Now I have to get over the pain in my left foot and try to get ready for the race.”

Qualifying position

1 Marc Marquez 1'21.311 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Cal Crutchlow 1'21.434 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
3 Valentino Rossi 1'21.493 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Stefan Bradl 1'21.862 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
5 Aleix Espargaro 1'21.887 ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
6 Nicky Hayden 1'22.157 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Bradley Smith 1'22.297 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Alvaro Bautista 1'22.484 SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
9 Andrea Dovizioso 1'22.561 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Claudio Corti 1'23.059 ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
11 Danilo Petrucci 1'23.361 ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
12 Dani Pedrosa 1'22.221 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
13 Randy De Puniet 1'23.152 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
14 Hector Barbera 1'23.333 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
15 Michele Pirro 1'23.349 ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing
16 Michael Laverty 1'23.549 WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
17 Yonny Hernandez 1'23.565 COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
18 Colin Edwards 1'23.631 USA FTR NGM Forward Racing
19 Karel Abraham 1'23.752 CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
20 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'23.820 JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
21 Lukas Pesek 1'24.395 CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
22 Bryan Staring 1'27.273 AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
23 Andrea Iannone 1'23.008 ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing


Championship standings

1 Dani Pedrosa 136 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 127 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Marc Marquez 113 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Cal Crutchlow 87 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Valentino Rossi 85 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
6 Andrea Dovizioso 65 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Stefan Bradl 51 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
8 Nicky Hayden 50 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Alvaro Bautista 47 pts SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
10 Aleix Espargaro 44 pts ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
11 Bradley Smith 41 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Michele Pirro 30 pts ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing
13 Andrea Iannone 24 pts ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing
14 Randy De Puniet 15 pts FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
15 Hector Barbera 13 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Danilo Petrucci 13 pts ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
17 Colin Edwards 10 pts USA FTR NGM Forward Racing
18 Ben Spies 9 pts USA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing
19 Yonny Hernandez 6 pts COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
20 Claudio Corti 4 pts ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
21 Michael Laverty 3 pts WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
22 Karel Abraham 3 pts CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
23 Bryan Staring 2 pts AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
24 Javier del Amor 1 pts ESP FTR Avintia Blusens
25 Hiroshi Aoyama 1 pts JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
26 Lukas Pesek 0 pts CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
27 Ivan Silva 0 pts ESP FTR Avintia Blusens
28 Blake Young 0 pts USA APRILIA Attack Performance

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