Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM) 2019 after his crash on the Sachsenring – the French did not wage war until he found himself in the gravel bed. Little afterwards he signed up with the Oranges after an early dissolution contract, and he had months of hateful comments from KTM and their mouthpiece. As you could see a year later, his country was spot on, and he was already on the podium again with the Ducati in Brno.

Exclusive – no spectator permits endanger the GP of Germany!

On April 22nd, the ADAC had to announce a calendar change in their MX Masters with a press release. When the German Motocross Championship was held, the run in Reutlingen had to be postponed indefinitely from June due to the pandemic. The reason for this was the ban on events in June and July. After Saxony and Thuringia were recently declared a high-risk area, this means the end of the “postponement” of the GP of Germany announced last year to this year. In 2020, however, we had already made it clear that this was a fraudulent label because no two runs were planned for this year. From the beginning, only the annual run of 2021 should be held.

Fabio Quartararo At that time still at Petronas Yamaha SRT at the Sachsenring 2019 – after the previous year, this year’s event is also about to be canceled because it is now definitely clear that no spectators will be allowed in 2020 either.

Unfortunately it came as early as was to be feared
As we already noted on the day of the first publication of the MotoGP calendar (see in our article “Nice weather program” from November 6th, 2020), the original planning by FIM and Dorna was hair-raising to say the least. Despite foreseeable travel restrictions, tests in Sepang, a second round in Argentina and then Austin in Texas were “planned”. Interestingly, we hardly found any criticism of this naive view of the pandemic development on other portals. So it happened as it had to and one after the other the dates mentioned were canceled. But not only all overseas events are at risk, but also those events that were canceled in the previous year without a visitor’s permit. Therefore, as a precaution, the note “only with spectator permission” at the Sachsenring GP was already in our first version of the calendar. Now it happened, as was to be feared early on.

We photographed the infamous Ankerberg from the track at the German Grand Prix in 2017. Whoever wants to sleep peacefully at night is out of place there, as word got around. At the time, we lived in the same hotel as the Yamaha troop and commuted to the track in a rented KTM Superduke GT to Hohenstein-Ernstthal. As an exception, we wanted to arrive by flight, but Easyjet canceled it at short notice (only in the morning for the afternoon flight). As a result, there was a laborious journey by car, in the middle of the holiday traffic on a July weekend. Despite unexpected stress, it turned out to be a great weekend with wonderful weather, even if the KTM had electronic flaws.

What a shame for one of the most traditional events on the calendar

We never forget how we drove back from the route to the hotel on Sunday afternoon. As a biker, you felt like you were transported back decades into the past. People stood in front of the houses and waved to the infinitely long column of vehicles, and we back. Actually, the Sachsenring established our love for the area and the many naturally friendly people who live there. Out of respect for them, we have made a special effort in our history to honor some of their best drivers with respect. You can find the stories about Ernst Degner, Horst Fügner, “Petrus” and others on our website. The story about the next man from this area is already in the works and will contain details and recordings that are unlikely to be found anywhere else. Thanks to our extensive archive and, paradoxically, the corona pandemic, this part is growing faster than originally hoped and planned. We are saddened that this now brings with it another festival at the Sachsenring.

A sketch of the old Sachsenring, with the Queckenberg curve and start-finish at the bottom, the only parts that are identical to today’s course. For more about previous years and events on this traditional route, see our richly illustrated history.
Even before the war, the event was very popular in Saxony and attracted countless spectators. Without the swastika on the helmet, 5 years before the fatal Second World War, it obviously no longer seemed to work. In the last few years before the war, according to our documents, the drivers without party affiliation and without an emblem on their leather were no longer allowed to start. After 1939 the nonsensical war caused an interruption and in the second Corona year again the equally senseless pandemic.

Schedule and TV program Jerez Grand Prix

At the time of our publication there was another bug on the official MotoGP site and the Q1 of Moto2 was given as a duration of 25 minutes, which is of course wrong. This has of course already been corrected in our timetable.

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