Jorge Martin edged world champion Francesco Bagnaia after a cut-and-thrust battle over the last 10 laps to win Sunday’s German MotoGP, to trim the Italian’s lead in the standings. After beating Bagnaia in Saturday’s sprint race, Martin, a Spaniard who rides for the Pramac Ducati team, this time resisted late counter-attacks to win. Frenchman Johann Zarco, on another Pramac Ducati, completed the podium.
On Saturday, Martin, starting from the second row of the grid, overtook pole-sitter Bagnaia, on a factory Ducati, on the fourth lap. On Sunday, he made his move even earlier and took first on the third lap. Bagnaia gave chase and overtook with 10 laps to go but Martin hit back and regained the lead. Bagnaia pressed hard and the bikes touched on the second last lap, but both riders stayed upright and Martin stayed ahead to close out his second win in a main MotoGP race. His previous victory was in the Styria Grand Prix in Austria in 2021. With 144 points overall, Martin cut Bagnaia’s championship lead to 16 points. Marco Bezzecchi was fourth and Luca Marini fifth, both on Mooney Ducatis, giving the Italian manufacturer the top five places.
As for Marc Marquez, who crashed heavily on Sunday morning during the warm-up session prior to the Grand Prix, he withdrew from the race less than an hour before the start of the seventh round of the season. The Spaniard, who went over the handlebars of his Honda at full speed shortly before 10:00 am, appeared to be completely stunned after his crash, and spent several minutes with the commissioners while he recovered. He then limped back to his garage. The six-time world champion of the category, considered the king of the Sachsenring – never has a rider won there as much as he has -, would certainly have liked to put an end this weekend to a sad personal record of more than 600 days without a victory. However, Marc Marquez suffered a nightmare weekend, marred by five crashes.
