Race report

MotoGP German GP: Marc Marquez dominates for victory in crash-strewn race

Marc Marquez, runaway world championship leader, made it nine career MotoGP victories at the Sachsenring

Marc Marquez took his fourth consecutive grand prix win and his ninth MotoGP victory at the Sachsenring as he dominated the German Grand Prix.

The factory Ducati rider was unchallenged as he led the full distance from pole position.

His brother Alex Marquez returned to familiar territory by finishing second for Gresini Ducati, while his team-mate Francesco Bagnaia came home third in a dry but attritional race.

His brother Alex Marquez returned to familiar territory by finishing second for Gresini Ducati, while his team-mate Francesco Bagnaia came home third in a dry but attritional race which saw just 10 finishers.

Shortly before proceedings got underway on a hitherto cloudy day, the sun came out. This reduced the likelihood of any weather-related guesswork standing in Marc Marquez’s way.

Nor was there any repeat of Marc’s mistake at Turn 1 at the sprint race. This time he converted a good start into a first-corner lead and from there he simply pulled away to win by over six seconds.

The dry weather was good news for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who had shown good pace in such conditions on Friday before a tougher qualifying in the wet.

Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

He did the first part of his job with a good start, claiming an early third place behind Marc and Marco Bezzecchi’s Aprilia. Indeed, Di Giannantonio immediately looked faster than Bezzecchi. It took two attempts, but by the end of lap three, Di Giannantonio was up into second place ahead of Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez and KTM’s Pedro Acosta.

Acosta then lost the front end at Turn 2 on lap four, following which the race settled into a pattern for an extended period. Marc was pulling away at the front, Di Giannantonio had no answer but had Bezzecchi covered, with Alex Marquez, Bagnaia and Johann Zarco next up. The chances of a move among the top several riders around the tight Sachsenring circuit looked slim once the early jockeying was done.

Indeed, whil overtaking at the sharper end of the field was just about done for the day, the race nonetheless exploded into action with a series of accidents around two-thirds distance.

On lap 18 – and out of nowhere, it seemed – Di Giannantonio lost it under braking for Turn 1, the corner that has claimed so many of MotoGP’s top names over the years.

Zarco, who had immediately gone backwards from the front row on the lone LCR Honda, joined him in the same trap just seconds later.

Bezzecchi thus inherited second place from his former VR46 team-mate, but it wasn’t to last long. On lap 21, he too was caught out by Turn 1 and his fine run of results came to an end.

All of this promoted Alex Marquez and Bagnaia into their final positions on the podium.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Fabio Quartararo rode steadily to take fourth place on the factory Yamaha, fighting off a late charge from Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer.

MotoGP German GP - results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	30	40'42.854		162.2		25
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	30	+6.380 40'49.234	6.380	161.8		20
3	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	30	+7.080 40'49.934	0.700	161.8		16
4	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	30	+18.738 41'01.592	11.658	161.0		13
5	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	30	+18.916 41'01.770	0.178	161.0		11
6	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	30	+24.743 41'07.597	5.827	160.6		10
7	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	30	+24.820 41'07.674	0.077	160.6		9
8	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	30	+25.757 41'08.611	0.937	160.6		8
9	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	30	+25.859 41'08.713	0.102	160.5		7
10	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	30	+39.419 41'22.273	13.560	159.7		6
dnf	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	21	+9 Laps 28'44.255	9 Laps	160.9	Accident
dnf	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	21	+9 Laps 28'44.416	0.161	160.9	Accident
dnf	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	20	+10 Laps 27'07.360	1 Lap	162.4	Accident
dnf	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	19	+11 Laps 28'59.442	1 Lap	144.3	Accident
dnf	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	17	+13 Laps 23'01.613	2 Laps	162.6	Accident
dnf	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	17	+13 Laps 23'10.741	9.128	161.5	Accident
dnf	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	3	+27 Laps 4'05.460	14 Laps	161.5	Accident
dnf	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	2	+28 Laps 2'46.564	1 Lap	158.6	Accident
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