The 11th round of the MotoGP, the German Grand Prix, was held at the Sachsenring in Germany from July 11th to 13th, with Marc Marquez (Ducati) winning the race. Japanese rider Ai Ogura (Aprilia) crashed out and retired.
The Sachsenring, where the German Grand Prix is held, is one of the left-handed circuits and is also a circuit where Marc Marquez (Ducati), who is currently at the top of the championship rankings, excels.
M. Marquez took pole position in Saturday’s qualifying and also won the wet sprint race in the afternoon.
The race took place in dry conditions. Joining pole-sitter M. Marquez on the front row were Johann Zarco (Honda) in second place and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) in third. Ai Ogura (Aprilia), who finished 17th in the sprint race, started from 17th place.
Somkiat Chantra (Honda) will miss this event due to an injury sustained during training, Enea Bastianini (KTM) will miss the event due to appendicitis, Maverick Viñales (KTM) will miss the event due to a crash in qualifying, and Franco Morbidelli (Ducati) will miss the event due to injuries sustained in a crash in the sprint race.
M. Marquez took the holeshot, followed by Bezzecchi in second and Fabio Di Gianantonio (Ducati) in third. Alex Marquez (Ducati), ranked second, was in fourth place, and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), ranked third and M. Marquez’s teammate, was in seventh place.
M. Márquez was running smoothly in the lead, pulling away from the second place rider and those below. Meanwhile, Di Gianantonio had overtaken Bezzecchi to move up to second place. On the fourth lap, Pedro Acosta (KTM), who was running in fifth place, crashed and retired. Bagnaia had risen to fifth place, just behind A. Márquez.
From the middle of the race onwards, crashes continued to occur. On lap 18, Di Gianantonio, who was running in second place, crashed at the first corner. Zarco, who was running in sixth place, also crashed at the first corner. On lap 21, Bezzecchi, who had moved up to second place after Di Gianantonio’s crash, also crashed at the first corner.
Then, on the 22nd lap, Ogura slipped down at the first corner and crashed, taking Joan Mir (Honda) who was on the outside with him. Then, Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) crashed at the same corner. With one crash after another, with eight laps remaining, only 10 riders remained on the course.
Amidst all this, M. Marquez raced smoothly in the lead. He opened up a lead of more than six seconds over second place and took the win. The German Grand Prix was M. Marquez’s 200th race in the premier class. This victory was also his 69th in the premier class, putting him second in the championship standings for most wins in the premier class, overtaking Giacomo Agostini. He dominated his strong suit at Salzburg, taking pole position and winning the sprint race and the final race.
Coming in second was A. Marquez, the younger brother of M. Marquez. He had broken his left hand in a crash in the previous race, the Dutch GP, and had undergone surgery, but he still managed to make it onto the podium. Coming in third was Bagnaia, who had gradually worked his way up the ranks thanks to the crashes of the riders in the lead.
Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who came in third in the sprint race, finished in fourth place, the highest ranking for a Japanese manufacturer. Although the conditions were dry, it was a survival race with only 10 riders finishing the race.
The 12th race of the season, the Czech Grand Prix, will be held at the Automotodrom Brno in the Czech Republic from July 18th to 20th. This will be the first time the race has been held in five years, since 2020. The Czech Grand Prix will mark the end of the first half of the 2025 season, followed by a one-month summer break.
Marc Marquez (Ducati) ©MotoGP.com
