#GERMANGP – MOTOGP, SPRINT & RACE – Bastianini P9
MOTOGP – SPRINT: Marc Marquez resists late pressure for Sachsenring Sprint gold
He was the favourite coming into the weekend and lived up to the billing all day on Saturday; pole position converted, another Sachsenring success story for Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) as the #93 took victory in the Sprint. Lights to flag is one half but there was pressure applied throughout the 15-lap encounter from Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) who finished second and third respectively.
LIGHTS OUT: Marquez 1-2 out the traps
Lights out, holeshot bagged: Marc Marquez got the job done to lead ahead of his brother into Turn 1. Behind, a fast start from Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP) saw him move up into third but by the end of the opening lap, Di Giannantonio had got himself ahead. Further back, Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) was up into sixth from his P8 grid slot, whilst Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was battling with Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) for P8 and P9.
Approaching half distance, there was a crash for Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), ending his Sprint early. Back at the front and having been nose to tail, the top three had started spreading out with Marc Marquez able to put half a second into his younger brother. ‘Diggia’ was a further six tenths back by the end of Lap 9 as the #93 got into his groove and started to break clear of those chasing in the early stages.
LATE PRESSURE: Alex Marquez and Diggia dig deep
It wasn’t all done just yet though; Alex Marquez was digging in and the gap to his reigning World Champion brother was down to 0.337s going into the final three and a half laps. Di Giannantonio was also closing back in on the brothers, was there something still left for the very end of the Sprint? The Italian was climbing all over the back of the #73 with just two laps to go and had set himself up for a final lap attack.
However, it wasn’t to be; Marc Marquez made it back-to-back Sachsenring Sprint wins whilst brother Alex Marquez took second, resisting Di Giannantonio’s late pace. The Italian closes in on the Championship lead though, just 13 points away from leading into the summer holidays and just two behind second overall.
IN THE POINTS: Championship complex changes behind
2.2s behind the podium battle, Ogura was fourth ahead of teammate Raul Fernandez (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Championship leader Martin, who’s advantage extends to 11 ahead of his absent teammate Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing). Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) secured seventh whereas behind, it was Acosta who won out ahead of Quartararo for eighth place. Just missing a Sprint point, Brazilian star Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR) came home for top Honda honours in tenth.
MOTOGP – RACE: Game on: Marc Marquez pockets perfect Sachsenring weekend to ignite title charge
Was it ever in doubt? MotoGP win number 10 at the Sachsenring. Career win 102. And from 102 points back after the Italian GP, Marc Marquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team are right back in the title race game. It’s a victory that lifts the reigning World Champion up to P3 in the overall standings, one place behind second place finisher Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team), as the Japanese sophomore notches up a third Sunday podium on the spin to get within 20 points of championship frontrunner Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing). And for the second Grand Prix in a row, SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP celebrate a double podium thanks to Raul Fernandez’s efforts to finish in P3.
THE START: MM93 LEADS
From pole, just like he did in the Sprint, Marc Marquez got away from the line well and held onto the lead into Turn 1, with Alex Marquez keeping the SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP duo behind him – Ai Ogura leading Raul Fernandez, with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) dropping a couple of places to P5.
A little further back, World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) had got the better of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) by the end of Lap 2 of 30.
DUCATI DUO OUT: DI GIANNANTONIO & ALEX MARQUEZ
Early drama then unfolded at the front, as Di Giannantonio’s Grand Prix ended at Turn 10. The front end slid away from the Italian as he shadowed Ogura, and that’s big points lost in the championship. A chance at leading the title race heading into the summer break gone. Diggia’s first DNF of the season promoted Acosta to P5, who was now ahead of Martin after the #37 launched a classy move up the inside of the Aprilia star at Turn 1.
Another Ducati rider was then sliding out of contention. This time, at Turn 13 on Lap 9, it was Alex Marquez. It was another front-end fall, and having looked very comfortable in P2, it was no double podium in Germany for the #73. This left Marc Marquez with a 1.4s buffer to Fernandez, with Acosta trying to pile on the pressure to third place Ogura.
THE RUN TO THE FLAG
At the end of Lap 16, Marquez’s lead over Fernandez rose to 1.8s, and it crept up to the two-second mark by the time we clicked onto Lap 20. At this stage, Ogura had resisted the Acosta threat and was now targeting a pass on teammate Fernandez for P2, while the KTM star was over four seconds ahead of Martin and Bagnaia.
With Marquez 2.2s up the road, focus was on two battles behind – Fernandez vs Ogura, and Martin vs Pecco. In the Trackhouse tussle, Ogura pounced at Turn 1 and began stretching his legs in P2, with the 2023 and 2024 title race rivals getting busy in the closing stages, and in terms of the championship, this was big.
Something else that was seismic was the double victory for Marc Marquez. The King of the Ring keeps his crown. A record-equalling (with Hall of Famer Giacomo Agostini) 10th MotoGP win at a single circuit, and a 37-point weekend that sees the reigning World Champion climb up to P3 in the standings, four clear of the absent Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), having been over 100 adrift leaving Mugello. Back in the game? You bet.
Ogura once again showed late race supremacy to back up his Assen victory with a Sachsenring P2, on another weekend to remember for SuperFile Trackhouse as Fernandez hands the American squad another double Sunday podium. The Japanese rider now sits P2 in the standings, 14 points away from Martin.
YOUR GERMAN GP POINT SCORERS
Acosta’s return following his Carpal Tunnel Syndrome surgery ends with a gutsy P4, with Martin digging deep to keep Pecco behind him at the flag. 0.123s split the #89 and #63 over the line, as Martin heads into the summer break as the World Championship leader by that aforementioned 14-point gap.
Quartararo brought his Yamaha home in a commendable P7, as Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) closed out the German GP top 10.
Rookie Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) picked up the final points on offer at the Sachsenring, with Cal Crutchlow (Castrol Honda LCR), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) non-finishers.
You can overtake here but it’s very difficult, especially at the start of the race. The bike was shaking a lot when I was in the slipstream of other riders in the first ten laps, and we had a lot of understeer. After that I found a good feeling and with each lap my bike felt better. It was possible to do the last ten laps with good pace. The tyre life wasn’t so bad. I now know that rather than sit behind a rider and study them I must overtake straightaway. If you wait, it’s already too late! I’m not happy about the weekend as a whole. It’s been very complicated coming from a positive race at Assen, but we gave our maximum and saved a top ten with this ninth place.
Enea Bastianini – P9
Super long race! Thirty laps was a lot. I tried to stay focused, avoid mistakes and manage the race well. We survived and scored some points, which is always important. With the new grid procedure, it was difficult to get a better start. I stayed with the group and gathered information to improve, which was important.
Diogo Moreira – P11
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