18 June 2022 – Sachsenring – Germany
At the end of the 15 minutes of qualifying 2, Ayumu managed to earn the fourth position on the grid, while John will start thirteenth tomorrow.
For our Japanese driver it is a great result, after three weeks away from the track, because of the bad injury, occurred in free practice 2 of the Italian Grand Prix. The fracture in the collarbone is healing and Ayumu has received the permission of the doctors to get on track. Unfortunately, however, our rider still has a bit of pain, especially in the corners on the left, so for him the 27 laps of the race will be a good test, since the track has 10 left turns out of 13 total. Ayumu gained direct access to qualifying 2, achieving the second best time of the combined three-round free practice. The increase in temperature in qualifying did not allow him to replicate the excellent 1’26.101, obtained in FP3. In fact, Ayumu in Q2 on the third of the nine laps got the time of 1’26.299, with which he has a gap from poleman I. Guevara of 0.430 s.
A few places back we find John, who ranked 13th. He also gained direct access to qualifying 2, earning the eighth position in the combined standings. 1’26.751 is the best lap, obtained on the second of the nine laps completed in qualifying. 0.882 is his gap from the lead. For John it will be a comeback race but, as we have often seen in the races of Moto3, the starting position is often little influential, while the ability to fight is much more important. In this regard, it will certainly help the great setting work done by John with his team, in the previous race weekend.
We leave you to the words of our two drivers and our Team Owner Max Biaggi.
AYUMU SASAKI : “Today was a good day, I had a good feeling in FP3. We were able to improve the setting from yesterday, so this was very good. In qualifying I had a decent lap that put me in P4. I did not really have a great slipstream, but I managed to make a clean lap and finishing in P4 is good. We have a good pace for tomorrow so we just need to stay calm. Maybe I have to save a little but my energies during the race, as I have a little bit of pain in my clavicle. I feel good and I think we can finish the race well, so I just have to stay calm, have a good start and see what I can do.”
JOHN MCPHEE : “Qualifying was a little bit more difficult today with those conditions and I think it was the same for everyone of course, but for some reason, I struggled more than expected. I feel like we have a good pace, I just was not able to make the most in the beginning with the new tires. Then when the others had two tires I unfortunately only had one, because we used an extra one in practice, so it was difficult to improve from the earlier laps. Anyway we understood the areas we need to work on. The race pace seems good towards the end with the tire drops, so this is positive. It will be difficult from P13, but we will dig deep tomorrow and try our best.”
MAX BIAGGI – TEAM OWNER : “The return to the track of Ayumu was very successful, since in almost all the sessions he was among the fastest and then conquered the fourth position on the starting grid. Considering the injury suffered just three weeks ago, this is a great result. We hope that tomorrow in the race the pain does not limit him too much. I honestly expected a better result from John, after what he showed in practice. Nothing is lost, but we will have to put ourselves in place to be able to fight in the race and climb the group.”
Results Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland 2022 – Qualifying
Pole – Izan GUEVARA (GASGAS) 1’25.869, 4. Ayumu SASAKI (Husqvarna) 1’26.299, 13. John MCPHEE (Husqvarna) 1’26.751.
