July 11 (Reuters) – Marc Marquez completed a dominant Saturday at Sachsenring by following a lap-record pole position with victory in the German Grand Prix sprint race, fending off younger brother Alex Marquez to secure a record 19th MotoGP sprint win.
The factory Ducati rider led throughout the 15-lap sprint race and crossed the line 0.368 seconds clear of Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez, who remained within striking distance but was unable to challenge for the lead. The result allowed seven-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez to cut the gap to championship leader Jorge Martin to 32 points.
A 12-time winner at Sachsenring across all classes, Marc Marquez continued his remarkable record at the German circuit as he bounced back from a frustrating outing at Assen last month.
“Alex was pushing quite hard. He was very close. He tried to keep a constant pace. But he was almost able to catch me in the last lap. We will see how it goes tomorrow,” Marc Marquez said.
VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio finished third to complete a Ducati one-two-three, resisting pressure from Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura in fourth, while the Japanese rider’s teammate Raul Fernandez took fifth.
“It was vital for us to get as many points as possible today. Every point counts,” Di Giannantonio said.
“At the beginning, I knew they had more pace. I was a little faster later in the race, but it was a risk to overtake, so I am happy to take a third-place finish.”
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi was ruled out for the remainder of the weekend after suffering a broken collarbone in a qualifying crash and will return to Italy for surgery. Championship leader Martin finished sixth, maintaining an 11-point advantage over his teammate at the top of the standings.
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia came from 11th on the grid to finish seventh, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta finished eighth.
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in BengaluruEditing by Tomasz Janowski)