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And so, the rain came. Not in spurts like on Friday, when the riders did not know which tyres to mount, but incessantly, just in case anyone had any doubts. The Moto3 warm-up was held in a driving rain that soaked the track and this condition had not occurred at the Sachsenring since 2012, four years ago.
In this situation, the deck could be reshuffled and the best time set by Khairul Pawi astride the team Asia Honda del is a clear demonstration. The Malaysian, only twentieth yesterday in qualifying, loves racing in the rain and his first career win in the Argentinian round simply confirms that theory. His time of 1’40”072 places him at the top of the list for the morning, whereas in second place we find a skilled Andrea Locatelli with his team Leopard KTM, also the victim of two crashes, fortunately without consequences for the rider from Bergamo.
The third best time went to Dutchman Bo Bendsneyder, half a second behind Pawi; Brad Binder’s teammate does an excellent balancing act in the wet. Behind him are Spaniard Jorge Martin and Scotsman John McPhee, respectively ahead of Mahindra and Peugeot.
Brad Binder, on the other hand is sixth. The official KTM South African rider finished about eight seconds behind Pawi, without risking too much. Poleman Enea Bastianini was seventh on his Gresini Honda, ahead of Jorge Navarro in eighth.
In the twelfth spot on the list, we find Niccolò Bulega with the team Sky VR46 KTM, fifteenth time for Francesco Bagnaia astride the Mahindra, Fabio Di Giannantonio in nineteenth with the team Gresini Honda. In twenty-ninth and thirty-first place are the two Sky VR46 team riders, Andrea Migno and Romano Fenati, who were unable to find the right feeling on the wet asphalt and for them the gap behind Pawi was more than four seconds.
There were many crashes in Moto2. The completely wet track conditions were something new this weekend for this class as well, and some illustrious names ended up in the gravel: Lorenzo Baldassarri, Sam Lowes and Johann Zarco are just three examples.
At the end of the twenty-minute session, the fastest rider was Belgian Xavier Simeon with a time of 1’35”992, confirming two things: he loves to race in the wet and he likes the Sachsenring, where he won the Moto2 race last year.
Behind the Belgian was French world champion Johann Zarco, crashing without injury, third for German Jonas Folger, faster than Franco Morbidelli in fourth and ahead of the Italians on the starting grid.
Fifth best time for Alex Rins, ahead of Malaysian rider Syahrin, seventh for Alex Marquez and Julian Simon in eighth.
Sam Lowes finished twelfth after the crash, thirteenth went to pole position holder Nakagami, who also took a spill, Lorenzo Baldassarri was fourteenth, finishing his warm up session in the Mobile Clinic after falling with a dislocated left shoulder, unsure whether he will be able to race or not.
