Marc Marquez pockets perfect Sachsenring weekend to ignite title charge

Was it ever in doubt? MotoGP win number 10 at the Sachsenring. Career win 102. And from 102 points back after the Italian GP, Marc Marquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team are right back in the title race game. It’s a victory that lifts the reigning World Champion up to P3 in the overall standings, one place behind second place finisher Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team), as the Japanese sophomore notches up a third Sunday podium on the spin to get within 20 points of championship frontrunner Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing). And for the second Grand Prix in a row, SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP celebrate a double podium thanks to Raul Fernandez’s efforts to finish in P3.

From pole, just like he did in the Sprint, Marc Marquez got away from the line well and held onto the lead into Turn 1, with Alex Marquez keeping the SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP duo behind him – Ai Ogura leading Raul Fernandez, with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) dropping a couple of places to P5.

A little further back, World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) had got the better of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) by the end of Lap 2 of 30.

Early drama then unfolded at the front, as Di Giannantonio’s Grand Prix ended at Turn 10. The front end slid away from the Italian as he shadowed Ogura, and that’s big points lost in the championship. A chance at leading the title race heading into the summer break gone. Diggia’s first DNF of the season promoted Acosta to P5, who was now ahead of Martin after the #37 launched a classy move up the inside of the Aprilia star at Turn 1.

Another Ducati rider was then sliding out of contention. This time, at Turn 13 on Lap 9, it was Alex Marquez. It was another front-end fall, and having looked very comfortable in P2, it was no double podium in Germany for the #73. This left Marc Marquez with a 1.4s buffer to Fernandez, with Acosta trying to pile on the pressure to third place Ogura.

At the end of Lap 16, Marquez’s lead over Fernandez rose to 1.8s and it crept up to the two-second mark by the time we clicked onto Lap 20. At this stage, Ogura had resisted the Acosta threat and was now targeting a pass on teammate Fernandez for P2, while the KTM star was over four seconds ahead of Martin and Bagnaia.

With Marquez 2.2s up the road, focus was on two battles behind - Fernandez v Ogura and Martin v Pecco. In the Trackhouse tussle, Ogura pounced at Turn 1 and began stretching his legs in P2, with the 2023 and 2024 title race rivals getting busy in the closing stages, and in terms of the championship, this was big.

Something else that was seismic was the double victory for Marc Marquez. The King of the Ring keeps his crown. A record-equalling (with Hall of Famer Giacomo Agostini) 10th MotoGP win at a single circuit, and a 37-point weekend that sees the reigning World Champion climb up to P3 in the standings, four clear of the absent Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), having been over 100 adrift leaving Mugello. Back in the game? You bet.

Ogura once again showed late race supremacy to back up his Assen victory with a Sachsenring P2, on another weekend to remember for SuperFile Trackhouse as Fernandez hands the American squad another double Sunday podium. The Japanese rider now sits P2 in the standings, 14 points away from Martin.

Acosta’s return following his Carpal Tunnel Syndrome surgery ends with a gutsy P4, with Martin digging deep to keep Pecco behind him at the flag. 0.123s split the #89 and #63 over the line, as Martin heads into the summer break as the World Championship leader by that aforementioned 14-point gap.

Quartararo brought his Yamaha home in a commendable P7, as Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) closed out the German GP top 10.

Rookie Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) picked up the final points on offer at the Sachsenring, with Cal Crutchlow (Castrol Honda LCR), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) non-finishers.

Three weekends away from racing now race over the horizon, before we pick up this enthralling MotoGP title fight at the legendary Silverstone Circuit. Martin leads Ogura by 14. Marc Marquez is hunting. And how fit will Bezzecchi be? See you after the break at the British GP.