Despite not being in his best moment, still limping from his ninth operation on his right arm a few weeks ago, Marc Márquez had more than enough speed and talent to dominate on his favorite circuit. The defending champion dominated comfortably at Sachsenring, where he has accumulated 14 wins in 20 world championship races, to win the German GP and position himself on the doorstep of the lead as MotoGP reaches the midpoint of the calendar and the summer holidays. For the Ducati champion, the third victory and the second double of the season cap off a remarkable comeback that has allowed him to go from being 102 points behind the leader after the Italian GP at the end of May to just 18 points in a matter of a month and a half.
Márquez had no rival on a track where he has 10 Sunday wins in the premier class, a record that matches the previous top number of wins on a single circuit held by Giacomo Agostini at Imatra. On Saturday, he also achieved his ninth pole position on the track to equal another record of the Italian at the now-defunct Finnish circuit. Although he didn’t need any push, the crashes of Alex Márquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, the only two capable of approaching the performance of number 93 throughout the weekend, further cleared the way to his comfortable victory.
The UNDISPUTED Sachsenking 👑 @marcmarquez93#GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/dCbyLpdw56
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) July 12, 2026
“I am very happy, it has been a very good weekend. I was very focused because if I wanted to have chances in the championship, I knew that on this circuit I had to attack my rivals. We achieved it, and I am delighted to have taken this tenth victory on such a special circuit for me,” said the winner from parc fermé. During his celebration with the fans, climbing the stands, Marc put an inflatable crown on top of his helmet and then lit a firecracker from the gravel to the delight of the crowd.
The Ducati powerhouse finished more than two seconds ahead at the finish line of the two Trackhouse machines, with Japanese Ai Ogura in second place and Spaniard Raúl Fernández third. The Aprilia customer team outperformed the official Italian team by a wide margin for the second consecutive weekend after reigning with two doubles in Assen. With Jorge Martín’s fifth place, unable to get close to the leading group after starting seventh, the championship leader left with a 14-point margin over the rider from Kiyose, a district of Tokyo. The defending champion, who started the weekend in fifth place, is now third in the standings after his tremendous cut of 84 points in four grands prix.
Márquez’s surge, despite his physical problems, invites thoughts of an exciting second half of the championship, with five riders tightly packed. Diggia, who had the lead within reach in Germany, now closes the group of contenders who are less than a win – 25 points – from the top position in the standings. The Italian from VR46 was the first of the favorites to crash, going too fast in turn 10 on the fourth lap and after a huge scare during the morning warm-up. Then it was the younger Márquez who missed the mark in the last corner of the track, a disaster that ended without major physical consequences for either.
Read more Zelenski dismisses the Prime Minister of Ukraine less than a year after her appointment
In a race seen as decided after Marc’s perfect start and the crashes of the other two Ducatis with podium pace, the grit of Pedro Acosta also stood out, managing to rescue a fourth place with a KTM still far from the leading group. The Murcian kept Martín and Pecco Bagnaia at bay, who almost did a favor to his teammate in Ducati’s red garage in the battle for fifth place.
The seven-time MotoGP champion has benefited from the inconsistency of all his rivals, especially the former championship leader. Marco Bezzecchi has had four blank Sundays and will have a lot of work this summer. The Aprilia rider from Rimini, with four wins and six podiums in this world championship start, underwent surgery this Sunday to successfully repair the fracture in his left collarbone suffered in Saturday’s qualifying and begins a recovery process that should allow him to return to action in Silverstone.
Although he deserves a vacation, and who doesn’t, Márquez already announced these days that there would be no rest during the summer. His physical condition is not optimal, and his goal over the next month until the British GP will be to push himself hard in the gym and thoroughly study his problems in the cursed limb with his physiotherapists and physiologists. He will rest a little because he says he needs to rest his head, but he will not stop training. “It seems that the right arm is fine because I am winning, but there are very weak points that I must improve and insist on, gain resistance, and play with the body again in right-hand turns,” the Catalan pointed out.
In other news, the new grid configuration, with wider spaces between riders for safety reasons, ended without accidents during its world championship debut at Sachsenring.
Read more France considers Rajoy’s article on the French team «racist» and «unacceptable»
