The third pure Ducati Grand Prix podium in MotoGP in a row with from left World Championship leader Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia (P2) and next to him winner Jorge Martin with Pramac Ducati teammate Johann Zarco in third place. These drivers, together with brand colleague Marco Bezzecchi in P3, also occupy the first 4 positions in the world championship intermediate ranking.

Without Marquez, Jorge Martin also won the Grand Prix after the sprint

After his fifth crash this weekend, in which Marc Marquez had gone off in the warm-up on Sunday morning with a highsider in the Queckenberg finish curve, the Repsol Honda Star decided not to start. The day before he had only finished eleventh in the Tissot sprint race and despite being in the best physical condition since 2019 at the start of the season, the 6-time MotoGP World Champion has reached an all-time low. His Spanish compatriot Jorge Martin is completely different. The Prima Pramac Ducati pilot prevailed in a tough duel with world championship leader Bagnaia and thus managed the double with victories in the Tissot Sprint Race and the Grand Prix of Germany. Despite problems on the first lap, Johann Zarco completed another all-Ducati podium with a strong third place. He and his team-mate Martin had made it onto the podium for their private Pramac team three times in a row.

Our shot of the penultimate corner, before which Jorge Martin had duped both brand colleague Francesco Bagnaia and his former Ducati factory teammate Jack Miller the day before. The man from Madrilene took the early lead again in the Grand Prix on Sunday, but this time he was unable to pull away from his pursuers as he had in the previous sprint race.

The losers of the seventh round of MotoGP 2023

With Brad Binder having a fall while in 3rd position, KTM was also one of the unlucky ones this time at the German Grand Prix, with the exception of 6th place for Jack Miller and P11 for Augusto Fernandez (GasGas-KTM). First and foremost, this time Aprilia, with Maverick Viñales retiring after just eight laps due to technical problems and Aleix Espargaró second to last ahead of Jonas Folger (GasGas-KTM). Only the RNF Aprilia privateers Miguel Oliveira in tenth and Raul Fernandez in 15th were able to score points. The result of Honda with Takaaki Nakagami as the only driver in 14th place was also downright embarrassing. Why substitute driver Stefan Bradl was not used in his home race instead of one of the injured Joan Mir or Alex Rins is not only incomprehensible, but almost stupid.

Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati) was fourth best driver at the Sachsenring in 2023 together with Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM). Together with teammate Marco Bezzecchi he is one of the absolutely positive surprises of this season. The half-brother of MotoGP icon Valentino Rossi is currently only 7 points behind Brad Binder (KTM) in the world championship rankings.

The questionable justification for Bradl’s renunciation for the German GP
In his capacity as a test driver, he is supposed to gain important insights for the GP there in autumn two days later in Misano. However, with Assen on the agenda in just a few days, Honda’s decision seems foolish. But even Yamaha with a bitterly disappointed Fabio Quartararo had little to smile about. The fast man from Nice had to settle for 13th place behind teammate Franco Morbidelli. In addition to Honda, it is now also absolutely clear for the second Japanese manufacturer that they can only play a supporting role in this year’s championship. Unfortunately, this also applies to Aprilia, after their factory team with Aleix and Fabio on the Yamaha had fought at the front last year. Because at KTM, as always, the consistency of the top riders is the most serious problem, only one question is in the foreground. Who will be the next world champion for Ducati after Bagnaia 2022?

Aerial view on Sunday with the infamous Ankerberg campsite in the foreground on the right with a guaranteed lack of nightfall on the GP weekend. Behind it is the village of Hohenstein-Ernstthal with the Sachsenring, which is more like a go-kart course than a Grand Prix circuit, to the left of it in the middle of the picture. In an interview, KTM-GasGas driver Augusto Fernandez stated that he effectively feels like being on a kart track with the MotoGP rocket.

Turkish victory in Moto3 and little tension in Moto2

With Deniz Öncü, after the sensational victory of his brother Can on November 18, 2018, there was a Moto3 winner from Turkey for the second time at the Grand Prix of Germany four and a half years later. Plagued by cramps in his left leg, the KTM rider fought his way up to the long-leading Ayumu Sasaki (KTM-Husky) and won the race in Queckenberg, the last corner of the course. After third place, Daniel Holgado is still leading in the world championship. Things were less exciting in the middle class when polesitter Pedro Acosta passed the briefly leading championship leader Tony Arbolino shortly after the start and sped away uncatchable. Aron Canet crashed for the second time in 3 races and Jack Dixon didn’t manage to catch Arbolino before the finish on P2. The Italian travels on to Assen with a 15-point lead over Acosta in the interim standings, where the third event after the GPs in Italy and Germany will take place within two weeks.

The long lap penalty “solution” in Queckenberg, the finish corner of the Sachsenring, rather a bad joke compared to most other courses. Anyone who had to drive through here as a punishment should have had a smile on their face. However, fans are used to too much nonsense from FIM and Dorna to get angry about it.

Where there is light, there is usually also shadow

Many visitors will certainly have been satisfied with their stay, also because the weather was a factor. We left Saxony with mixed feelings. Unfortunately, more and more is being done there for the VIP guests, while the majority of fans are finding fewer and fewer places where the course can be viewed well. In the past, you could practically walk along the start-finish straight to Queckenberg and on to the penultimate corner. This is now over and there is almost no standing room with a view to the starting grid, in contrast to 5 years ago. The much more diverse catering options compared to almost all other events do not make up for this. For us, therefore, a break is announced for the coming season and possibly for some time afterwards, as far as the visit to the Sachsenring event is concerned. After all, with the visit by eBike arriving from Chemnitz, we had experienced a journey by bike for the first time, which will probably be continued for other events in the future.

Aerial view with the Moto2 starting grid at the Sachsenring 2023 with a very unfavorable situation for the spectators in the foreground. The grandstand is far to the left behind and to the right part of the paddock blocks most of the space. Above the pit exit are the outrageously expensive VIP grandstands, the only well-located place to watch the start. Unaffordable for most fans, of course, but greed and MotoGP go well together as is well known.

Standing in the MotoGP World Championship after Round 7

https://resources.motogp.com/files/results/2023/GER/MotoGP/RAC/worldstanding.pdf

How it goes on – only 1 week later in the Netherlands

https://www.motogp.com/en/calendar/2023/event/Netherlands

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