Marquez rules Sachsenring for ninth time

Marc Marquez’s eighth consecutive victory in the 2025 MotoGP World Championship came at a circuit synonymous with the number 93. At Germany’s Sachsenring, the factory Ducati Lenovo rider made it four Sprint wins and four GP wins on the trot from what was his 101st pole position in his 200th premier-class start.

It’s victory number nine at his favoured anti-clockwise circuit – taking his premier-class tally to 69, now the second-highest behind Valentino Rossi – and he’s just the second rider since Giacomo Agostini to notch up nine wins at the same racetrack. They’re impressive numbers by anyone’s standards, but in a race where just nine other MotoGP riders saw the finish line, his 2025 German GP victory felt especially dominant, his ninth world title almost inevitable.

With his brother and closest title rival Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) starting from sixth on the grid and nursing a recently fractured finger, Marc made sure not to repeat the mistake he made at the start of the Sprint, where he missed his braking marker into the first turn and was forced to fight through to the win from fifth on the opening lap.

He made a clean start when the lights went out, grabbed the holeshot from front-row starter Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), while Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) launched well from eighth on the grid to slot in behind his countryman. Alex Marquez was in fourth ahead of Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), who failed to capitalise on his rare front-row starting position. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) was in sixth ahead of Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati), who had qualified 11th in the wet Q2 session.

As fruitless as it eventually was, the field did their best to ensure Marc didn’t streak away at the front – a charge led by Di Giannantonio once he eventually made a pass stick on Bezzecchi on lap two. Acosta and Zarco had their own scrap early in the race, with the KTM rider getting his own way as Bagnaia also relegated the Frenchman to sixth. But as the chasing five jostled for position, Marc put in a couple of fastest laps at the front to ensure his only competition throughout the 30-lap contest was his own concentration.

The first fallers came in quick succession on lap four, when Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha) and Acosta slid out in the dry but tricky conditions – the latter’s misfortune handing the injured Alex Marquez a comfortable one-second buffer over Bagnaia in fifth. With Marc stretching his lead at the front and Di Giannantonio looking comfortably clear of the in-form Bezzecchi, the battle for sixth between Jack Miller (Prima Pramac), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Luca Marini (HRC) and Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) looked to be the only drama left to unfold.

A mistake by Miller to start lap nine allowed Quartararo through, while Aldeguer started to find pace in what was his first German GP on a MotoGP bike. He made a move on Marini for 10th on lap 10, eased past Binder for ninth the next time around, before making a move stick on Miller for eighth on lap 14.

Marc was now two seconds clear of Di Giannantonio, while Bezzecchi in third couldn’t get within eight-tenths of a second of the VR46 rider, with Alex sitting around a second adrift of the Aprilia man. Bagnaia was in a lonely fifth ahead of Zarco – which, given the Italian’s lacklustre performance during the weekend, was relatively positive and exceeded his own pre-race goal of a top-six finish.

It got better for the top five when Di Giannantonio lost the front of his GP25 tipping into turn one to start lap 18, promoting Bezzecchi to second and Alex into the final podium spot. Zarco became the fifth crasher on the same lap – his disappointment at wasting his front-row start clear to see. Bezzecchi’s second-place finish was short-lived; he too went down in the first turn on lap 21, promoting Bagnaia to third place behind Alex, while an oblivious Marc now enjoyed a 5.8-second advantage.

With Quartararo and Aldeguer comfortably clear in fourth and fifth, the battle for sixth between Miller, Marini, Binder and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) was intensifying. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) took out the luckless Joan Mir (HRC) on lap 22, while Lorenzo Savadori jumped off his RS-GP for the second time at the same corner – taking the race’s crash tally to nine in a race just 22 laps old.

Miller used his braking prowess to hold off Marini and Binder for a handful of laps, but was let down by what he called “a combination of the map and tyres”, eventually conceding and allowing them through with two laps to go.

With just 10 riders left on track, Marc started the final lap over seven seconds clear of Alex and Bagnaia. And while Aldeguer pushed Quartararo to the end, the Frenchman finished fourth – albeit almost 19 seconds behind Marc, who was standing on the pegs and celebrating with a jig when he crossed the line to take his first German GP victory in four years.

Marini held off Binder for sixth, Miller held off Fernandez for eighth, while Alex Rins (Monster Yamaha), some 13 seconds further back again, picked up six world championship points for last place.

It was another maximum points haul for Marc (344), who is now 83 points clear of Alex (261) in second place and 147 clear of Bagnaia’s 197. The VR46 pairing of Di Giannantonio and Franky Morbidelli – who was sidelined in a fast crash during Saturday’s Sprint – sit fourth and fifth on 142 and 139 points respectively. Miller remains in 16th on 46 points.

The series now returns to Brno for the first time since 2020 for the GP of Czechia this weekend, marking the start of the second half of the season.