Maverick Vinales tops second practice, breaking Sachsenring lap record

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales topped in second practice for the German MotoGP breaking the Sachsenring lap record.

Maverick Vinales broke the Sachsenring lap record during the second practice session of this weekend’s German MotoGP, finishing 0.0340s ahead of championship leader Jorge Martin.

Only three riders managed to lap in the 1m19s as Miguel Oliveira achieved an impressive third place in a session marked by several crashes.

The session started with chaos as Ducati satellite riders Marc Marquez (Gresini) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) crashed brutally at the fast Turn 11. Fortunately, both riders escaped the incidents unhurt and were confirmed fit to race.

A red flag was pulled out after 23 minutes as Bezzecchi’s VR46 team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio appearedto have sustained a collarbone pain injury after losing the front end of his Ducati GP23 heading into Turn 1.

His bike ended up on top of the air fence, which led to the session being temporarily stopped. However, he was given the all-clear following medical checkup.

The session saw further chaos as GasGas Tech3’s rookie Pedro Acosta crashed for the second time of the day, this time at Turn 1, just before his team-mate Augusto Fernandez also crashed at Turn 3.

Factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini also suffered a crash at Turn 11 in the final minutes of the session before Remy Gardner, who is standing in for Alex Rins at Yamaha this weekend, crashed in the final corner amid his impressive performance.

Alex Marquez was fourth, ahead of Dutch MotoGP winner Francesco Bagnaia who rounded out the top five. Enea Bastianini was sixth, ahead of Franco Morbidelli, Pedro Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio, and Brad Binder who completed the top 10.

Binder’s KTM teammate Jack Miller finished 11th ahead of Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez. Marquez’s lap time that saw him top was bettered by twelve riders which put him down to 13th, ahead of 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo and GasGas’ Fernandez who occupied 14th and 15th.

LCR’s Johann Zarco finished a second adrift of Vinales’ stunning lap but finished as the leading classified Honda, ahead of Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini and his own team-mate Taakaki Nakagami.

Bezzecchi wasn’t able to set an improved lap time following his crash but was able to finish clear of Gardner in 20th.

Honda test rider Stefan Bradl finished clear of Joan Mir, who endured a disappointing session as he struggled to get to grips with his Repsol Honda around Sachsenring’s complex turns.

2024 German MotoGP, Sachsenring Free Practice 2 Results