What a twist in the last few minutes of the race, with lots of drama and a movie we’ve seen so many times before: with the race under control, Jorge Martín crashed and handed the lead to Pecco Bagnaia, who went on to win at Sachsenring and take the lead in the championship. There was even more excitement as Marc Márquez, coming from 13th place, made his way up to second, with his brother Álex!
Jorge Martín and Miguel Oliveira got off to a good start, but Pecco Bagnaia wasted no time and quickly moved up to third and, on the following lap, attacked the lead, successfully overtaking Martín. A few moments later, Oliveira was overtaken by Franco Morbidelli’s Desmosedici, which is also on the rise this season.
And just like that @PeccoBagnaia HITS THE FRONT early 💥#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/FJSne0s6Lv
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) July 7, 2024
After three laps Morbidelli was the fastest rider on the track. Martín was 0.179s behind Bagnaia! Olivera was fourth and Álex Márquez fifth.
At the start of lap five A. Márquez overtook Oliveira, with the Portuguese rider now behind Maverick Viñales. Marc Márquez was already seventh after overtaking Raúl Fernández, Enea Bastianini ninth and Brad Binder rounded off the top ten.
There were soon further changes: Martín regained the lead and M.Márquez continued to gain positions, even benefiting from Viñales’ off-track, to move up to sixth: Oliveira was 0.670s ahead of the #93.
With eight laps completed at Assen, there was another… unexpected move: Morbidelli moved up to second and relegated Bagnaia to third! Álex Márquez, Oliveira and Marc Márquez were getting closer and closer, and there promised to be changes soon.
It's a @pramacracing 1-2 at the moment 🔥@FrankyMorbido12 IS THROUGH ON @PeccoBagnaia! 🔄#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/1Y8sMnAWIZ
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) July 7, 2024
In the meantime, Di Giannantonio was dropping out of the race, and it seemed that this was due to a technical problem. M. Márquez was 0.143s behind Oliveira, and the Portuguese rider was 0.316s behind A. Márquez, with the #73 also putting pressure on… Bagnaia.
With 18 laps to go, that was the top ten:
Morbidelli was on the attack and hadn’t come to Sachsenring to act as anyone’s “guard”! After beating Bagnaia, he didn’t hold back and settle for a place behind his teammate, no! Morbidelli was gaining ground on the #89 with a gap of 2,097s, but Martin quickly gained ground and lurking in the distance was… Bagnaia!
The world champion prepared his move and attacked at just the right moment, leaving Morbidelli in third. Seconds later and further back, M. Márquez also managed to beat Oliveira to fifth. Bastianini was dangerously close to the #88, just 0.152s away.
With 14 laps to go, A. Márquez was on the podium and Morbi was fourth. Bastianini also confirmed that he had overtaken Oliveira, who dropped to seventh place ahead of his teammate R. Fernández.
Morbidelli wanted more and went on the attack, regaining third place, but A. Márquez returned the maneuver soon afterwards, as happened just below: Oliveira fought back and overtook Bastianini, but the Italian fought back and returned to sixth place.
The race continued at a good pace and there were now ten laps to go:
After starting on the front row, the nightmare for R. Fernández continued, with the Spaniard falling to tenth place, while further ahead, tempers heated up between Morbidelli and M. Márquez: the Italian went wide and M. Márquez gained the position, but at Back on track, #21 touched Márquez and regained fourth position.
The contact between them was, naturally, investigated, with Race Direction not penalizing anyone. Let’s move on!
With five laps to run Martín was leading by 0.655s over Bagnaia, A. Márquez was third, now with his brother and companion in fourth. Morbidelli was, close behind, having an intense battle with Bastianini, and emerging victorious. Oliveira remained seventh, ahead of Brad Binder, the best KTM on the track.
Marco Bezzecchi was the most recent entry into the top ten, replacing R. Fernández. Pedro Acosta was ninth.
On the next lap Bastianini and Morbidelli exchanged positions again… for fewer seconds.
And with two laps to go, disaster for Martín! Martín gave the lead away to Bagnaia when he crashed in turn 1, when he was leading the race comfortably. Worse, in addition to saying goodbye to the lead in the race, he also said goodbye to the lead in the championship!
And on the last lap the Márquez brothers were fighting on the track, with Marc emerging as the winner of the battle and coming in second!
The race ended, unsurprisingly, shortly after with another page of history in Germany!