Spanish Ducati rider emerges triumphant after 15 laps. Pedro Acosta secures his first pole of the year in Moto2. Moto3 lap record broken again by Ayumu Sasaki in qualifying.
The winner of the first sprint race in the history of the LIQUI MOLY Motorcycle Grand Prix of Germany is Jorge Martín. The Spaniard came through from sixth place on the grid to win the short race at the Sachsenring for the Prima Pramac Racing team, taking the chequered flag on his Ducati after 15 laps of racing. Martín took the lead in the spectacular early stages of the race, and controlled proceedings thereafter. He crossed the finish line 2.468 seconds clear of the runner-up, Italian world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). Third place went to Australian Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Superstar Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ended the race in eleventh place. German rider Jonas Folger (GasGas Factory Racing Tech3) was unable to finish the race.
“I very much enjoyed the race. It was a bit tough in the first few laps, and I was riding at the limit, because I was on the hard front tyre. I launched the decisive manoeuvre because I feared that I would be held up. I nearly crashed twice, but managed to catch the bike. When I saw on the pit board that I was pulling away, I pushed until seven laps from the end, after which I was able to manage my lead over Francesco. I am super happy. Hopefully we can be in contention tomorrow too,” said a delighted Martín after his impressive ride.
The top speed record at the Sachsenring also fell in Saturday’s sprint race: Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), who was the fastest rider of the day on Friday, set a new record of 305.0 km/h on his Ducati. The previous record was 304.2 km/h, set last year by sprint winner Martín.
Bagnaia had his nose in front in the morning’s qualifying session. The world champion set a time of 1:21.409 minutes on a drying track to secure the best starting position for the Saturday race and the Grand Prix on Sunday. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), the half-brother of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, was second fastest, ahead of Miller. Spain’s Marc Marquez progressed through the first qualifying session and finished seventh after a total of three crashes.
Lukas Tulovic goes out in first qualifying
In Moto2, Spain’s Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) starts from pole position for the first time this year. Acosta came through with a lap time of 1:23.858 minutes and was the only rider to dip under the 1:24-minute mark. World championship leader Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) from Italy starts the race from second on the grid, ahead of Britain’s Jake Dixon (Polar Cube GASGAS Aspar Team). Lukas Tulovic (LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP)from Eberbach failed to make it out of the first qualifying session, which he ended in seventh place. As such, Tulovic will start Sunday’s race from 21st on the grid.
In qualifying for Moto3, Ayumu Sasaki (LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP) smashed the lap record he himself had set on Friday. The Japanese completed his fastest lap of the Sachsenring in 1:25.130 seconds, more than a second faster than the rest of the field! Joining him on the front row of the grid are Turkey’s Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Spaniard Ivan Ortolá (Angeluss MTA Team). Sasaki’s team-mate Collin Veijer from the Netherlands was fourth.
Remaining tickets for one of Germany’s biggest individual sporting events are available via all the usual channels: from the online ticket shop at adac.de/motogp, by phone on 03723/8099111, or by E-mail to info@sachsenring-event.de.
