MotoGP German GP: Marquez leads Ducati sweep to take sprint win

Marc Marquez headed a Ducati 1-2-3 in the MotoGP sprint race at his beloved Sachsenring on Saturday, leading his brother Alex and Fabio Di Giannantonio across the line. 

With Marco Bezzecchi absent following an earlier qualifying crash, his team-mate Jorge Martin stretched his advantage at the top of the points table to 11 after coming home in sixth.

This was the first start following MotoGP's latest safety tweak, namely adding more space between grid slots and rows - and it proved a particularly undramatic one as polesitter Marc kept the lead ahead of Alex. 

Ai Ogura briefly nosed ahead of Di Giannantonio into the first corner, but the Italian returned the favour later in the lap, meaning the three Ducatis on the front row had firmly established themselves in grid order at the head of the field. 

Next up came a trio of Apriias, with Ogura leading Trackhouse team-mate Raul Fernandez and factory rider Martin. By mid-distance, the leading four had made a small break from the next group: Fernandez, Martin, factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia and KTM's Pedro Acosta. 

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

On lap 11 of 15, only Alex Marquez looked like a serious challenger as the front quartet had seemingly halved to a leading pair. Late in the race though came a charge from Di Giannantonio, who put Alex under pressure for second over the final couple of laps. 

As was the case throughout a thoroughly uneventful sprint, however, the ebb and flow of gaps did not translate to so much as a wheel being shown once the order settled down early on.

Ducati and the Marquez family had much to celebrate, but spectators at the Sachsenring could certainly have hoped for better entertainment in a race that rivaled last month's Balaton Park sprint for its monotony.

SPRINT

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	15	20'12.978		163.4		12
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	15	+0.368 20'13.346	0.368	163.3		9
3	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	15	+0.813 20'13.791	0.445	163.3		7
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	15	+3.019 20'15.997	2.206	163.0		6
5	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	15	+5.454 20'18.432	2.435	162.6		5
6	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	15	+6.155 20'19.133	0.701	162.6		4
7	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	15	+7.751 20'20.729	1.596	162.3		3
8	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	15	+8.968 20'21.946	1.217	162.2		2
9	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	15	+10.855 20'23.833	1.887	161.9		1
10	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	15	+13.279 20'26.257	2.424	161.6
11	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	15	+13.406 20'26.384	0.127	161.6
12	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	15	+14.111 20'27.089	0.705	161.5
13	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	15	+15.007 20'27.985	0.896	161.4
14	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	15	+15.398 20'28.376	0.391	161.3
15	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	15	+17.977 20'30.955	2.579	161.0
16	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	15	+18.137 20'31.115	0.160	161.0
17	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7		Yamaha	15	+22.622 20'35.600	4.485	160.4
18	C. Crutchlow Team LCR	35		Honda	15	+22.929 20'35.907	0.307	160.3
19	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	15	+31.185 20'44.163	8.256	159.3
dnf	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	5	+10 Laps 6'47.446	10 Laps	162.1	Accident
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