Surprises at the Sachsenring

Francesco Bagnaia walked away with a race win, Jorge Martin with a Sprint win, and Miguel Oliveira with a silver medal

- Charan Karthik

MAVERICK VIÑALES OF Aprilia Racing led an incidentpacked Friday afternoon practice session. Gresini Racing rider Marc Márquez suffered a huge highside at Turn 11 and was pushed all the way down to 13th. Miguel Oliveira led Saturday’s practice. The Trackhouse Racing rider put in his best session of the year to finish 0.231 seconds ahead of Jorge “Martinator” Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati). In qualifying, Martinator took pole position ahead of the surprisingly quick Trackhouse Racing duo of Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez. World champion Francesco Bagnaia could only manage the fourth best time astride his factory Ducati and was joined by Alex Márquez of Gresini Racing and Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) in the second row.

Sprint

JORGE MARTIN HALTED TITLE RIVAL Bagnaia’s five-race win streak with a victory in the Sprint race. Martinator was passed by Bagnaia and Oliveira at Turn One, but soon overtook them on lap two. Martin stayed away from Oliveira, Bagnaia, and teammate Enea Bastianini for the rest of the race to claim his first win since Le Mans.

Oliveira’s runner-up finish for Trackhouse Racing was his best MotoGP result since winning the Thai Grand Prix in 2022. Oliveira’s teammate, Raul Fernandez, starting from third, did not have the pace and finished outside the top 10. Racing with a broken finger and bruised rib from Friday’s highside, in addition to starting from 13th, Marc Márquez brought his Gresini Ducati home in sixth, passing Maverick Viñales at the final corner in spectacular fashion.

Race