Rain greeted the Moto2™ field on Saturday morning for Practice 3 as the Practice 1 times proved crucial to decide who would head straight into Q2 in Qualifying. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) remains top of the combined timesheets while Alonso Lopez (MB Conveyors SpeedUp) took second place. Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 MasterCamp) impressed on Friday to take third spot in the combined times and secure a Q2 spot. In P3, Lopez left it late to top the timesheets by almost two tenths ahead of his rivals.
"Thank you bike" ????
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) June 17, 2023
@AlonsoLopez_21 steals P1 in the last moment ????#GermanGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/o9NJqc8VQc
The track dried out as the 30-minute P3 session progressed with the fastest times coming towards the end. Lopez showed strong pace in both wet and dry conditions as he topped FP3 with a 1:34.449, almost two tenths clear of teammate Fermin Aldeguer in second. Zonta van den Goorbergh took third place, with the trio separated by half-a-second. Van den Goorbergh’s session came to an early end when he crashed at Turn 2 in the final few minutes of FP3, shortly after he had gone fastest.
Just as he snatched P1, he went down ????
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) June 17, 2023
Zonta vd Goorbergh is OK though! ????#GermanGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/sw5bn4XX1z
Filip Salač (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) made it straight through into Q2 with fourth place although he crashed at Turn 3 in FP3, with the Czech rider half-a-tenth clear of Jake Dixon (Polar Cube GASGAS Aspar Team). FP3 pacesetter Aldeguer took sixth while Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) was seventh, ahead of Elf Marc VDS Racing Team duo Tony Arbolino and Sam Lowes in eighth and ninth respectively. Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) completed the top ten, and he will be joined in Q2 by Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Jeremy Alcoba (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2), Sean Dylan Kelly (OnlyFans American Racing) and Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing).
Qualifying is up next for Moto2™ at 13:15 Local Time (GMT+2) – make sure to tune in to find out who takes pole!
Combined top 10:
1. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:23.979
2. Alonso Lopez (MB Conveyors SpeedUp) +0.237
3. Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 MasterCamp) +0.301
4. Filip Salač (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) +0.428
5. Jake Dixon (Polar Cube GASGAS Aspar Team) +0.485
6. Fermin Aldeguer (MB Conveyors SpeedUp) +0.505
7. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) +0.530
8. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.728
9. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.779
10. Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) +0.810