Marc still king of the Sachsenring

Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati) would have known before the 2026 MotoGP World Championship kicked off that Germany’s Sachsenring was going to be fortuitous for his championship campaign, but not even Marc would have thought that he’d be able to claw back 106 points on Marco Bezzecchi (Team Aprilia) between Mugello’s Round 7 and the Sachsenring’s Round 11.

And while his dominance continued at his beloved German circuit with two race wins from pole position, the points advantage was helped by some bad luck for others. Bezzecchi suffered a broken collarbone in a Q2 highside, which sidelined him for the sprint and the grand prix, the usually consistent Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) crashed out of fifth place after picking up a bronze medal in the sprint, silver medallist Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) also crashed out of second place on Sunday, while the best championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) could muster was a sixth and a fifth from eighth on the grid.

Most importantly, however, Marquez led every single lap of both the sprint and the grand prix and, in what's an apt illustration of how the 2026 championship is unfolding, became the first to do so since Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) did it at Motegi last year.

But there’s a quiet achiever on the rise, with Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Racing) picking up his third podium on the trot and heading into the three-week summer break sitting second in the standings.

So while the championship took a fascinating turn at the Sachsenring, the race itself was far from it aside from a handful of battles for the best-of-the-rest placings. With Marc first to the Turn 1 apex, it was brother Alex, Ogura, Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) and Di Giannantonio slotting in behind, ahead of Martin, Bagnaia and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM).

Fernandez relegated teammate Ogura to fourth at the final corner of the opening lap, while Acosta found a way through on Bagnaia in the early stages of lap two. Fresh from surgery to correct the arm pump which forced him to retire last time out at Assen, the Spaniard looked keen to make up for lost points and found a way through on Martin at the end of the straight to start lap four. It got better for the KTM star before the end of the lap when Di Giannantonio crashed out ahead of him.

By lap nine, it still looked like we had a race on our hands. Alex was keeping Marc honest and was never more than half a second in tow, while the two Trackhouse stars matched the pace and had a determined Acosta for company. But when Alex lost the front of his Ducati at Turn 13, it handed Marc the breathing space he needed to control the 30-lap contest from the front.

There was some good news for Aussie fans with Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha) as high as eighth after a direct entry into Q2 for the first time this year and qualifying 11th. But by half-race distance, the field had settled into what even the commentators were calling a procession. One-and-a-half seconds separated Marquez and Fernandez, with another half a second separating the two Trackhouse teammates and Acosta, with Martin a further two seconds back in fifth, and sixth-place Bagnaia 1.3 seconds back again.

As he so often does, Ogura started to find some late-race speed, catching and passing Fernandez for second place on lap 24 of 30, as did Bagnaia who managed to find himself on Martin’s rear tyre with seven laps to go. And while Raul conceded the position, later blaming a sore back for not retaliating, Martin dug deep to keep his 2024 title rival at bay despite half a dozen attempts by Bagnaia to muscle past the factory Aprilia rider.
Lap 27 was a costly one for Miller who went from eighth to 12th as Luca Marini (HRC), Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and rookie Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) all passed the Aussie.

But when Marquez crossed the line to start the final lap, there was no question about who would celebrate on the podium. There were two seconds separating him and Ogura, 2.2 seconds between Ogura and Raul, almost three seconds between Fernandez and Acosta, while championship leader Martin was some four seconds behind his fellow Spaniard.

Reaching the chequered flag first meant Marquez equalled Giacomo Agostini’s record of achieving 10 wins at a single circuit and stamped his intentions on the championship having won three of the last four grands prix. In fact, he would have been heading into the summer break second in the standings had Ogura not passed Fernandez for second on lap 24.

Martin’s fifth-place finish was enough to see his title lead increase from 11 points to 14, with 208 points to Ogura’s 194. Marquez (190) moves up two places to third overall, just 18 points behind Martin, while both Bezzecchi (186) and Di Giannantonio (184) drop two places to fourth and fifth respectively. Fernandez (159), Acosta (148) and Bagnaia (143) are all still in with a chance.

The series will resume at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix over 7-9 August.