The three men from row one after qualifying with Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), pole sitter Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati Racing) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), the only one of the three who was also able to cheer after the race

Marc Marquez wins the German GP ahead of Oliveira and Quartararo

After winning all the last 10 races at the Sachsenring, Marc Marquez was an absolute top favorite, at least on paper. The last 7 editions in MotoGP and before that twice in Moto2 and once in the 125 cm³ class, the Catalan was always on top of the podium. A unique and flawless record, but still the 6-time MotoGP World Champion was only considered an outsider for many observers. This was primarily due to his 4 falls in the last three races, and everyone was excited to see whether the Repsol Honda man would finally sit down again. The motorcycle world championship has been back in Saxony since 1998 and Repsol won Honda Star Mick Doohan in Hohenstein-Ernstthal at the first edition on the new circuit. After all, Valentino Rossi was victorious here four times in the premier class and once in the 250cc category. But from starting position 15, nobody expected the old master to triumph.

Even in the eleventh race in a row, there was no way around him – Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda at his first race in Saxony without official spectators, even if you saw numerous onlookers who somehow made it to the racetrack.

After the start of the eighth MotoGP Grand Prix of the year
It was Aleix Espargaró who took the lead ahead of Marc Marquez, Zarco and Quartararo, and after lap one, Marquez was back in the lead at a Grand Prix for the first time since the wet race at Le Mans. But Aleix countered a little later, but was caught again by the Repsol Honda driver. Miller passed Fabio, who was on P4, after 2 laps, followed by Oliveira, Binder, Rins, Martin, Nakagami and Pol Espargaró. At the end of the third round Quartararo had also been caught by Oliveira and Pettrucci and Alex Marquez were gesticulating in the gravel bed after they had brought each other down. After 5 laps, Joan Mir had passed Pol and was in P10, while nothing in the front had changed. On Turn 10, Lorenzo Savadori on the Aprilia was the next with a crash.

Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) before the start – in the end it was a solid tenth place for the winner’s teammate after a very difficult weekend with 3 falls on the first two days.

Miller on the rise and first raindrops
After Quartararo, Miller also grabbed Joan Zarco at the end of the start-finish straight on the seventh lap, bringing him to P3 behind Marquez and Aleix. Oliveira also passed the French one deal later and Miller grabbed the Aprilia pilot lying in front of him, and a little later the Portuguese also passed Aleix. White flags were now shown when raindrops came down from the sky after the first third. Mqrquez had pulled away slightly at the front and Miguel also passed Jack on P2, while Quartararo had overtaken his compatriot Zarco behind. The lead of the leading Repsol Honda driver over his pursuer on the KTM was a good 1.7 seconds when there were 16 laps left.

Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo) was still the second-best Ducati rider in the end, despite missing the podium, but of course he couldn’t be really satisfied with his position after that.

Maverick and Morbido at the end of the field
While the two Yamaha riders were at the end of the field, Quartararo made it past Aleix to P4 and thus just behind Miller and a podium. His compatriot Zarco, however, was caught by Binder. A little later, Fabio passed Miller on P3. With ten laps to go, Marquez was still ahead of Oliveira and the lead was a good one and a half seconds. Almost four seconds behind Quartararo. The Portuguese got a little closer to the leader, but after 22 of 30 laps it was still 1.344 seconds. Before Turn 1, Binder passed Aleix to P5, but the Catalan countered shortly afterwards and kept the upper hand for the time being. Just behind Zarco in front of Mir, Bagnaia and Pol in tenth position. In turn 1, Marquez made a first mistake and after that Oliveira was only a second behind the Catalan.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) was of course the world championship leader, who was not allowed to make a mistake like at the same place two years ago in order to lose his lead in the intermediate ranking. Under these conditions, he simply did an excellent job.

Oliveira chases the ten-time winner
For the last five laps it looked like Marquez’s rear tire had the end of its life ahead of it, but the Spaniard was still able to extend the lead slightly, while Quartararo was behind him in a safe third place. But Miller had lost P4 to Binder and Zarco had also been overtaken by Bagnaia and was only eighth ahead of Me. In the end, Marc Marquez was the clear winner and finished a very long distance of around 600 days since he celebrated his last triumph. Oliveira took second place on the KTM ahead of World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo. Below is the ranking of the eighth MotoGP race of the season, with the riders without points in italics.

P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap 1st/Prev.
1, 93, Marc MARQUEZ, Honda, 160.6, 41’07.243
2, 88, Miguel OLIVEIRA, KTM, 160.5, 1.610
3, 20, Fabio QUARTARARO, Yamaha, 160.2, 6.772
4, 33, Brad BINDER, KTM, 160.1, 7.922
5, 63, Francesco BAGNAIA, Ducati, 160.1, 8.591
6, 43, Jack MILLER, Ducati, 160.1, 9.086
7, 41, Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia, 160.0, 9.371
8, 5, Johann ZARCO, Ducati, 159.9, 11.439
9, 36, Joan MIR, Suzuki, 159.9, 11.625
10, 44, Pol ESPARGARO, Honda, 159.7, 14.769
11, 42, Alex RINS, Suzuki, 159.6, 16.803
12, 89, Jorge MARTIN, Ducati, 159.5, 16.915
13, 30, Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Honda, 159.4, 19.217
14, 46, Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 159.2, 22.300
15, 10, Luca MARINI, Ducati, 159.1, 23.615
16, 23, Enea BASTIANINI, Ducati, 159.1, 23.738
17, 27, Iker LECUONA, KTM, 159.1, 23.946
18, 21, Franco MORBIDELLI, Yamaha, 159.1, 24.414
19, 12, Maverick VIÑALES, Yamaha, 159.0, 24.715
Not Classified
32, Lorenzo SAVADORI, Aprilia, 157.7, 25 Laps
9, Danilo PETRUCCI, KTM, 157.9, 26 Laps
73, Alex MARQUEZ, Honda, 157.8, 26 Laps

World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo after the race: “It was definitely not an easy race, but in the end I was very happy that I still made it onto the podium. Our bike wasn’t optimal and there were places where I kept losing time. To finish in the top three under these circumstances is of course excellent. Fortunately it only rained for two laps, this was the moment when I was a little more cautious than some other drivers to assert itself in the world championship and I succeeded in doing so. Assen is one of my favorite tracks, the Yamaha is also very good, and that’s why I’m particularly looking forward to the next lap. “

Johann Zarco in front of his Pramac Ducati team-mate Jorge Martin – the Frenchman had a difficult race and with 8th place he was nevertheless in the top ten in the end and remains especially behind his compatriot in 2nd place in the interim World Championship.

Intermediate World Championship result for MotoGP after round 8

P, Rider, Bike, Nat, Points
1, Fabio QUARTARARO, Yamaha, FRA, 131
2, Johann ZARCO, Ducati, FRA, 109
3, Jack MILLER, Ducati, AUS, 100
4, Francesco BAGNAIA, Ducati, ITA, 99
5, Joan MIR, Suzuki, SPA, 85
6, Maverick VIÑALES, Yamaha, SPA, 75
7, Miguel OLIVEIRA, KTM, POR, 74
8, Brad BINDER, KTM, RSA, 56
9, Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia, SPA, 53
10, Marc MARQUEZ, Honda, SPA, 41
11, Franco MORBIDELLI, Yamaha, ITA, 40
12, Pol ESPARGARO, Honda, SPA, 35
13, Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Honda, JPN, 34
14, Alex RINS, Suzuki, SPA, 28
15, Enea BASTIANINI, Ducati, ITA, 26
16, Alex MARQUEZ, Honda, SPA, 25
17, Jorge MARTIN, Ducati, SPA, 23
18, Danilo PETRUCCI, KTM, ITA, 23
19, Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, ITA, 17
20, Luca MARINI, Ducati, ITA, 14
21, Iker LECUONA, KTM, SPA, 13
22, Stefan BRADL, Honda, GER, 11
23, Lorenzo SAVADORI, Aprilia, ITA, 4
24, Michele PIRRO, Ducati, ITA, 3
25, Tito RABAT, Ducati, SPA, 1

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).