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.
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
| 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 | ||||
| View full results | |||||||||||||
