MotoGp, Germany: Martin wins the sprint, Bagnaia second

Spaniard Jorge Martin swept the Sachsenring sprint by storm and raised his lead in the standings to -21 points from world champion Pecco Bagnaia, who starts from pole position tomorrow at the German Grand Prix and finished Saturday’s race in second place. Once again doubling Ducati, the bikes from Borgo Panigale look unbeatable: Today’s podium was completed by Australian Miller, aboard a KTM. The ordeal of Marc Marquez, who crashed twice with his Honda in qualifying and then finished a very far distance, continues 11th: again zero points for the cannibalism of Cervera, who in his Saxon “garden” saw the most defeats. Bezzecchi put a softer tire in front, and it went badly for him: only 3 points for the rider from Rimini, seventh at the finish line. Another fourth place for Luca Marini, but the weekend is just beginning: tomorrow “Maro” starts from the front row, the favorite with the usual and stunning bagnaia. In the standings, Bico is always ahead with 140 points but Martin is now second (119). Bezzecchi slides to third place (113). The rest of the order remained unchanged with Bender, Zarco and Martin.

Pico: “Congratulations to Jorge, a good challenge”

Martin accepted the front fairing of his Gp23 and celebrates: “I had a lot of fun in the last laps, while at the start I was at the limit. I passed both of them but lost the lead: I kept my balance, I continued to manage and let’s hope tomorrow we fight for the win.” Pecco Bagnaia, precious 9 points in the standings: “The first part was very interesting, a good challenge with Jacques, but then Jorge was very fast today: congratulations, he deserves this success. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.” Jack Miller is always smiling: “It seemed to me that I had a good start, but in reality the bike ran away a bit from me: a good fight with the others, I tried to stay close to Pecco but it wasn’t easy. The podium is still a good result.”

What a disaster, Japanese motorcycles

Picot had started out on top but lost energy in an exciting – and dangerous – duel with Miller: Martin took advantage of this by passing them both at the end of lap four and from that moment on set an impossible pace, closing in afterwards. 15 laps, 2½ seconds ahead of Bagnaia. Zarco also scored the points, fifth after an impressive final overtake on Bender. Aleix Marquez eighth and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargari lead ninth by 24 thousandths, the last point ahead of Bastianini. The Japanese’s debacle continues: Marc Marquez is Honda’s best, Quartararo is 13th with Yamaha (and Morbidelli’s 15th).