Two-in-one move gives Martin sprint win, Marquez non-scores

Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin dominated the German Grand Prix sprint at the Sachsenring, as Marc Marquez non-scored at the track where he’s never been defeated in MotoGP before.

Martin’s win was set up by a memorable two-in-one overtake on Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller coming out of the famed Waterfall corner.

It means he is now 21 points behind Bagnaia in the championship standings.

Marquez, who hadn’t lost a race he’d entered at the Sachsenring since 2009 back in 125cc, ran as high as fifth early on but faded badly to an eventual dispiriting 11th – and was even almost denied that position by Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio.

The predictably fast-starting KTM of Miller overtook his two fellow front-row starters Bagnaia and Luca Marini off the line for the early lead, despite Miller describing his start as “borked” and thinking it was poor.

Bagnaia immediately struck back through Turn 2, while behind them Martin found a way past Marini.

Martin then got past Miller at the penultimate corner, but when Bagnaia had a massive shake under braking into Turn 1, Martin got the corner a bit wrong as well – both of them washing out wide and inviting Miller back through.

The Aussie was then gobbled up by Bagnaia coming out of the Waterfall corner, one of the circuit’s three recognised right-handers, on the third tour, but once again reclaimed first place by sending it down Bagnaia’s inside at Turn 1.

But when it came to the Waterfall corner again on that lap, Martin snuck his way past both on corner exit, finding a line through on the inside and then squeezing the brake into Turn 1, the Sachsen Kurve – and chopping across Miller at Turn 13, Queckenberg – to just hang on to the lead.

OH MY! Two into one 🤯@88jorgemartin literally storms to the lead ⚡️#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/OuXWFFWFfy

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 17, 2023

It was the race-deciding move, as it took another lap for Bagnaia to clear Miller at Turn 12 – by which time Martin was already eight tenths of a second ahead. And the Pramac man then continued to pull way anyway, ultimately finishing two and a half seconds clear.

Miller settled for third after being overtaken by Bagnaia, with Marini behind him having a busy second half of the 15-lap sprint fighting off Brad Binder (KTM) and Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati).

And while Marini managed to hold station, Zarco launched an aggressive last-lap attack on Binder through Waterfall, effectively barging the South African off-track – with the incident placed under investigation but no action taken.

OH MY! Two into one 🤯@88jorgemartin literally storms to the lead ⚡️#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/OuXWFFWFfy

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 17, 2023

The points-scoring top nine was completed by Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Espargaro defeating Ducati’s Enea Bastianini on the final lap.

There were two retirements, Tech3 Gas Gas stand-in Jonas Folger pulling his RC16 into the pits and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales crashing at Turn 1 for the second time in the weekend while running only 13th.

Gutted 💔

Maverick Viñales is out of contention at T1 💥#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/vaWYIflfps

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 17, 2023

It was another fruitless sprint for Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo forced to check up through Turn 1 and ultimately finishing a quiet 13th, well out of the points but two places up on team-mate Franco Morbidelli – with Tech3 Gas Gas rookie Augusto Fernandez between them.

Sprint Qualifying Results