Marc Márquez wins the German Sprint Race this Saturday at Sachsenring. Joining him is Álex Márquez of Gresini Racing in second place. Fabio Di Giannantonio of Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team also joined in third place.
Although this is only a Sprint Race, Marc Márquez already shows great promise at this circuit. He holds the record for the most wins at this venue with nine wins across his career.
This morning started with an interesting FP2 and Qualifying session. Pecco Bagnaia of Ducati Lenovo and Fabio Quartararo of Monster Energy Yamaha made their way from Q1 to Q2. Just 0.111 seconds split the two riders.
Marco Bezzecchi had a rough highside at Turn 7 and struggled to get to his feet. He remained out for the rest of the Q2 session. Later it was confirmed he was out for the remainder of the German GP weekend with a broken left collarbone.
The grid will start with 20 riders as Fermín Aldeguer also recovers from a spinal injury.
Ultimately it was Marc Márquez who took pole position at the Sachsenring circuit with a new lap record of 1:19.041. He was joined on the front row with his brother, Álex Márquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Lights Out!
Marc Márquez had a great start ahead of his brother. Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura made it through ahead of Di Giannantonio on the first corner, but this was taken back by the end of the lap.
Pedro Acosta was already receiving track limits warnings in the second lap of the race from fighting with Quartararo for eighth place. Meanwhile, Pramac’s Jack Miller continued to lose pace from starting 12th on the grid and remaining out of the points.
The top three Ducati’s started to close in on each other as less than half a second split them. Following them were all Aprilia bikes split by just under a second. Meanwhile, it was a miserable weekend so far for Franco Morbidelli.
The VR46 rider was the first crash of the race during Lap 7 at Turn 1. Not only will he not score points in this race, but he also has to concede to a 3-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s main Grand Prix.
The final battle stages at the front
With five laps remaining, Diggia gained behind the Márquez brothers, but Marc had built a 0.5 gap at the front. The Italian crawled towards the back of Álex Márquez and remained firmly in the fight for the final lap.
As the last lap commenced, the battle continued with those that started on the front row, with 0.8 seconds between them. Yet they finished how the race started, despite how much each of them tried to grab the top step of the Tissot Sprint podium.
This is Marc Marquez’s 19th Sprint win and added 12 points to his campaign in the championship. He remains fifth in the standings.
Álex Márquez bounces back after his horror crash nearly two months ago at the Catalonia GP to add nine points to his tally. Fabio Di Giannantonio takes the final medal with 7 points in his championship, shortening his gap in the championship to Marco Bezzecchi by just two points.
Each of the riders commented on what affected their performance today:
Marc Márquez #93
“We had a clear strategy: get a good start and keep the lead, then ride at our own pace. I tried not to overdo it and to avoid any mistakes, while keeping the situation under control. The feeling was excellent and I was able to lap at quite a natural rhythm. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow with the medium tyre. This track isn’t particularly demanding on the body, and that helps. Álex (Márquez) was quicker than me, but I was able to keep him behind.”
Álex Márquez #73
“Honestly, I was hoping to get ahead of Marc off the line, or at least I gave it a try. If I had managed to do it, I would have tried to set the pace for the first eight to ten laps. Even while following him, I tried to make a move – I felt I had a bit more in a few sections, but I also ran wide twice while attempting an overtake. When Marc decided to manage the race midway through, I realized that was the right strategy for me as well. By the end of the race, I still had enough tyre left to defend second place. Tomorrow, of course, we’ll give it another shot. Thirty laps is a long race, and we’ll try to take another step forward and build even more confidence.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio #49
“I am very happy with this Sprint podium; we collected other important points for the championship. I made a little mistake at the first corner, but I managed to regain my third place, so I managed as much as I could. In the final laps, I think had something more than the rider ahead, but it was too risky to overtake, especially because of the overheating of the front tyre. It’s very hard to overtake here, so I thought that a third place was ok. For tomorrow, I feel good with medium tyre, and I have a good pace. The riders in front will prove again to be competitive, but even the others will arrive, so we must stay focused. The goal is to keep pushing and continuing on this direction.“
Although very little changes appeared in today’s standings, anything can happen. With Bezzecchi out of the weekend, Diggia, Ogura and Marc Márquez all have the chance to take second in the championship.
As one of only six anti-clockwise circuits on the calendar, this weekend will test skills. And only one can come out on top on Sunday.
MotoGP continues tomorrow for the main Grand Prix at 14:00 local time before the summer break begins ahead of the British Grand Prix in August.
Feature image courtesy of MotoGP.com