Márquez top in wet second run

An overnight thunderstorm in Germany meant that the 125cc riders, the first on track at Sachsenring on Saturday morning, were greeted by a wet surface. That did not prevent Marc Márquez from once more topping the timesheet however, as the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider’s time of 1’35.213 placed him at the head of the session.

Márquez did fall foul of the wet surface midway through the session when he had a slow speed slide out, but he was straight back on his bike and enjoyed a late battle with Pol Espargaró for the top time as the lead on the timesheet swapped hands between the pair in the dying seconds. The Tuenti Racing rider eventually finished 0.093s slower than his title rival.

Third was Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), whose last lap of the session left him 0.926s off Márquez’s marker, with an impressive session from former Red Bull Rookie Sturla Fagerhaug (AirAsia - Sepang International Circuit Team) placing the Norwegian fourth at just eight-thousandths off Rabat.

The top eight was completed by Adrián Martín (Team Aeroport de Castelló), Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing), Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) and wildcard rider Toni Finsterbusch (Freudenberg Racing Team).

Other riders to experience problems in the wet were Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar), who was 13th at 2.687s off Márquez as his session was interrupted by a crash, and Simone Grotzkyj (Fontana Racing), who also fell.

Absent from the session after deciding not to ride this weekend due to his injuries picked up at Catalunya in the previous round was Nico Terol, who has returned to Barcelona as he sits out round eight.

The 125cc riders will be back on track at 1pm local time for qualifying.