The king of the ring strikes again. Marc Marquez claimed a tenth MotoGP victory at the Sachsenring, equalling Giacomo Agostini’s all-time record for wins at a single venue. With this, he moves to just 18 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin heading into the summer break. The weekend swung the title picture decisively open, aided significantly by costly crashes from two of his closest challengers.
- Marquez claims record-equalling 10th MotoGP win at the Sachsenring
- Trackhouse Aprilia celebrate a second consecutive double podium with Ogura and Fernandez
- Bezzecchi, who underwent surgery following an Assen injury, is targeting a return at Silverstone
Marquez controls from the start
Following a commanding victory in Saturday’s sprint race, Marquez started from pole position on race day and took the holeshot to lead into Turn 1, with his younger brother Alex Marquez slotting into second, ahead of the two Trackhouse Aprilias of Ogura and Fernandez. Fabio Di Giannantonio, who came into the German GP third in the championship and had podium-contention pace, crashed out just a few laps in at Turn 10 – putting an end to a weekend that could have made him a serious title contender. On Lap 9, Alex Marquez crashed out as well, losing the front at Turn 13 while holding a comfortable second place. It was a costly weekend for Ducati in the constructors’ championship – the team currently sits 19 points behind Aprilia, which has 330 points.
Ogura challenges Marquez
With Alex Marquez gone, Fernandez moved up into second, with Ogura close on his heels. Acosta was fourth, with Martin and Bagnaia behind him, creating a close five-way battle for the remaining points. Past the halfway mark, Marquez had built a decent gap over Fernandez and continued to edge further away. Ogura, who is having an exceptional season, began to pick up the pace in the latter stages and applied pressure on his teammate Fernandez. With five laps remaining, he made the decisive move into second and began eating into Marquez’s advantage – but it was too little, too late. By the flag, Marquez was just under two seconds clear – a commanding performance from a rider who clearly knows this circuit better than anyone on the grid.
Behind the leading duo, Fernandez held on for third to give Trackhouse their second consecutive double podium. Acosta crossed the line in fourth. The battle for fifth went right up to the last corner, with Martin holding off Bagnaia to cross the line just 0.123 seconds ahead – a crucial result for the championship leader, who heads into the summer break 14 points clear of Ogura.
Championship standings
The perfect German GP weekend meant a 37-point swing for Marquez. Just four race weekends ago at Mugello, the gap to the top spot seemed an insurmountable 102 points – heading into Silverstone, he’s now just 18 points behind Martin. Ogura sits second in the standings, 14 points away from the leader. The championship is wide open with the second half of the season still to come. Bezzecchi, who led the championship after the opening rounds before a difficult run of weekends, including penalties and surgery following an Assen injury, now sits in fourth and is targeting a return at Silverstone – which should make things interesting once again.
Dinshaw Magol
Unnatee Gidithuri
