Germany: P ramac Racing’s Jorge Martin scorched to his second sprint win of the MotoGP season at the German Grand Prix on Saturday to move up to second in the world championship standings, while Ducati’s world champion Francesco Bagnaia finished second.
Martin took the chequered flag 2.468 seconds ahead of Bagnaia, denying the Italian a fourth sprint win of the season. Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller finished third.
Bagnaia started well after taking pole earlier on Saturday, but was drawn into an early battle with Miller, with Martin taking advantage of the pair’s tussle to sneak into the lead.
“I enjoyed the laps a lot, I was on the limit,” said Martin, who leapfrogged Marco Bezzechi into second place in the overall standings after the VR46 Racing rider ended in seventh place.
“After seeing that I was creating this gap, I kept pushing until there were seven laps to go, then I tried to keep that distance to (Bagnaia). I’m happy, it’s another sprint win and I hope we fight for the win tomorrow.”
Martin, who started on the second row, quickly moved up with a fastest lap early on and by the end of the fourth lap the charging Spaniard had taken the lead.
There was no stopping him once he had clear roads ahead of him as he turned on the afterburners, opening up a sizeable gap over Bagnaia and crossing the finish line well ahead of the chasing pack for his fifth straight podium finish.
“It was fun in the first laps, I really liked the fight with Jack (Miller), it was intense,” overall leader Bagnaia said.
“Jorge was faster today, I tried to close the gap, but it was difficult. He was faster than me. It’s certainly a great result, so I’m moving on and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Six-times MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez’s struggles at the Sachsenring continued as the Honda rider finished 11th after a couple of mistakes.
In the last lap of the race, Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco and Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder collided while jostling for fifth position.
MotoGP said no further action would be taken after reviewing the incident, with the Frenchman finishing ahead of the Australian.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 world champion, ended in 13th. — Reuters
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