Qualifying was delayed by nine minutes due to a power outage in the pit lane that affected several workshops, including the Honda pit.
Marc Marquez set the benchmark in Q2 with 1m20.567s, with Quartararo engaging behind the factory Yamaha.
Quartararo’s 1: 20.750 minutes, however, was scrubbed because he had exceeded the lane at the exit of the Sachsen-curve-left curve in turn 12.
This proved to be of little consequence to the Frenchman as he took the lead with 1: 20.437 minutes on his following lap, which was to be considered the time to beat before the final phase.
At the beginning of his second run, frustrated by the traffic, Quartararo dug deep into the clear air and consolidated his top position with 1: 20.247 minutes.
This was immediately beaten by Zarco on the Pramac Ducati, who improved to 1: 20.236 minutes just seconds later.
Zarco’s attack ended at Turn 4 when he crashed and endangered his first pole since Brno 2020.
Quartararo pulled out of his last attempt at the end, relegating him as the only Yamaha rider to second place in the top 15 on the grid.
Believing a strong qualifying session would pave the way for a podium finish at the Sachsenring, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro has bolstered his hopes after taking his first front row since Assen 2015 and Aprilia’s first in the modern MotoGP era.
Factory Ducati’s Jack Miller lit up the timing screens on his final lap after adopting a three-run strategy in the second quarter, but a moment on the final corner thwarted the lap and kept him in fourth place ahead of Marquez.
KTM’s Miguel Oliveira completed the top 6 but could be questioned several times by the stewards in the second quarter.
Jorge Martin starts seventh on his Pramac Ducati ahead of Pol Espargaro, who made it through Q1 on his Honda.
A later fall from LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami prevented him from improving to ninth place. Francesco Bagnaia was 10th on his Ducati ahead of Q1 pacesetter Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Alex Marquez’s sister LCR Honda.
The biggest shock of Q1 came from Maverick Vinales on the factory Yamaha, who finished 21st with his worst MotoGP qualifying result ever.
Vinales crashed late in FP3 and fell back in Q1. Vinales struggled for speed throughout the session and was caught by yellow flags in the final stages due to falls for Franco Morbidelli and Iker Lecuona.
He will start in 21st place on the back row, just ahead of Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori, who crashed the penultimate corner in Q1.
World Champion Joan Mir fared little better, the Suzuki driver finished 17th after a lap was canceled – although his scrubbed lap wasn’t good enough to catch up with Q1 top teammate Alex Rins anyway.
Brad Binder missed a place in Q2 by just 0.036 seconds on the factory KTM, Avintia rookie Luca Marini followed him in 14th and his teammate Enea Bastianini in 15th.
Valentino Rossi was 16th ahead of Mir on his Petronas SRT M1, while Morbidelli was only 18th in a fast lap after his crash in the last corner.
Petrucci and Lecuona finished 19th and 20th and couldn’t benefit from the new KTM chassis that is running this weekend.
Q2 results: