After recent visits to the fast, flowing Brno and TT Circuit Assen tracks, some adjustments were needed for the tight, narrow Sachsenring on Friday, where ambient temperatures were 24 degrees.

At just 3.67km, the German venue is the second shortest layout on the 22-race calendar, meaning times were incredibly tight throughout Friday. One second covered the first 20 riders in FP1, while the same margin separated first to 17th place in Practice.

Bastianini wasn’t fully comfortable aboard his KTM RC16 in the morning as he placed 14th. Despite some set-up changes, the Italian was suffering from understeer at full lean angle. Even still, ‘La Bestia’ showed strong rhythm on used tyres in his first two runs in Practice, with four laps posted in the 1’21s.

A strong effort in his second time attack lifted Bastianini to third, but a crash at Turn 8 late in the session meant he was pushed out of the top ten in the final moments, ending the day in eleventh.

Viñales didn’t have an ideal start to Friday, crashing at high speed through Turn 11 early in FP1. ‘Top Gun’ was thankfully unharmed and showed his fighting spirit by quickly returning to track to set the eleventh fastest time of the morning. In the afternoon, the 31-year-old struggled with movements from the front and rear tyre. The #12 rider jumped inside the top ten after his first time-attack but was eventually pushed back to 18th at the end of the hour.  

The action in Germany resumes on Saturday with Bastianini and Viñales using the thirty minutes of track time in FP2 at 10:10 CEST (UTC+2) to prepare for Qualifying, which starts at 10:50 (UTC+2) and will decide the grid positions for the 15-lap Sprint at 15:00 (UTC+2).

Enea Bastianini: “I gave my maximum to be in the top ten, but to be honest today we weren’t ready to go through to Q2. We worked a lot, but my feeling wasn’t the best. The problem is on the edge of the tyre - and here we spend a lot of time on the edge. When I push on the handlebar to turn, I have understeer. We need to resolve this for tomorrow as it’s my limit at the moment. In the time attack, I went with the soft rear tyre and everything improved. I felt more confident and saw more potential. I tried to save something but, in the end, I crashed. The important thing is I know why so we’ll make some changes and improve for tomorrow.”

Maverick Viñales: “In the morning entering Turn 11 I went into fifth gear and the bike started to shake and then I crashed - but I’m okay. I’m quite happy with my physical condition so it’s been a positive day. This track is hard because it just goes left, left, left, but I’ve gained power since Assen so tomorrow I plan to ride with a similar setting to last year, where I sit further back. Let’s see if that’s the way to go because right now I’m fighting with the bike. Today the front was sliding and wouldn’t turn. So, I had to open the gas and then the rear slides so much. I don’t think this is the way to go fast. We’ll go back to the position from last year to try and find a comfortable riding position. We’ll keep pushing!”