The Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland saw the MotoGP™ World Championship’s premier class take to the track in the sunshine, with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) maintaining his mantle of ‘King of the Ring’ by leading the way with a 1’21.660 and completing 25 laps. It is the first dry session with all riders on the grid since his comeback that Marquez has topped. Despite a crash, it was Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) who shadowed the Spaniard and was less than two tenths behind, whilst Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) made it two Hondas inside the top three.
It didn’t stop there; three Hondas inside the top four made it a promising opening session of the weekend as Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) recovered from a Turn 3 crash inside the first ten minutes to finish fourth. Brother Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) completed the top five, ahead of Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) who was top Ducati; Alex Rins (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) was seventh on his return to action. There was drama in the opening ten minutes for Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), who crashed at Turn 12, but he returned to the circuit.
The King of the Ring back down to business! ????@marcmarquez93 ends FP1 on top! ????#GermanGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/ZovMFtMrkZ
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) June 18, 2021
The MotoGP™ riders will be back on track for FP2 at 14:10 local time (GMT+2).
1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) 1’21.660
2. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) +0.168s
3. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) +0.276s
4. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) +0.350s
5. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Gresini Team) +0.380s
6. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) +0.391s
7. Alex Rins (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) +0.416s
8. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) +0.488s
9. Joan Mir (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) +0.512s
10. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) +0.593s