{"id":798510,"date":"2026-07-13T23:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T23:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/798510\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T23:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T23:13:12","slug":"german-motogp-minimum-marquez-not-maximum-marc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/798510\/","title":{"rendered":"German MotoGP: minimum M\u00e1rquez, not maximum Marc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sachsenring<\/a> is Marc M\u00e1rquez<\/a>\u2019s happiest hunting ground \u2013 on Sunday he equalled the all-time circuit wins record of ten victories, set by Giacomo Agostini<\/a> at Finland\u2019s Imatra street circuit \u2013 so it was a weekend to attack, but this was a cautious offensive, not a full-blooded, tyre-smoking, sideways assault.<\/p>\n

This was minimum M\u00e1rquez, not maximum Marc, so he only looked on the edge once all weekend, when he tipped over it on his third lap of FP1. The rest of the time he never did more than was absolutely necessary, because he is fully aware of his fragility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already said the last race \u2013 we are trying to attack where I feel okay and survive when we have difficult tracks,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf we want to fight for the championship I need to improve my right arm. It\u2019s the only point I need to improve. So this summer break, I will take a rest, of course, because I need it for the mental side, but I need to work very hard on the right arm, because sometimes I\u2019m just sat on the bike, I cannot play with my body, so that\u2019s there where I want to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, M\u00e1rquez has two hours of physio per day, seven days per week.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom January to before Brno<\/a>, a lot of hours of physio. But since Assen<\/a> I try to train more in the gym and do less physio, because now the arm doesn\u2019t have any inflammation. We are working a lot on the left arm also, because [when I ride] I\u2019m compensating a lot with my left side. I have a lack of power in my right side but more pain in the left side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The completion of the first half of the 22-round 2026 championship gave M\u00e1rquez the chance to reflect on another physically traumatic period in his battle-scarred career. He went into the season with his much-mangled right arm and shoulder still recovering from a crash at Mandalika<\/a> last October, when he was taken out by Marco Bezzecchi<\/a>. That fall required yet more surgery, which should\u2019ve fixed this latest injury, but it didn\u2019t. A loose screw \u2013 lurking in the upper arm \u2013 was blocking his radial nerve.<\/p>\n

\"Trackhouse<\/p>\n

Trackhouse Aprilia<\/a>\u2019s Ogura and Fern\u00e1ndez scored their second double podium in as many races<\/p>\n

\n MotoGP\n <\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot imagine how stressful the first part of the season was for me, because I didn\u2019t understand anything,\u201d he added. \u201cI was crashing without knowing what was going on, because the arm was disconnecting, so I was crashing in a strange way many times and I made some mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The weak, iffy arm caused him to crash out at Jerez<\/a> and again at Le Mans<\/a>, after which he underwent further surgery to remove the rogue screw. He missed two races, returning at Mugello<\/a>, which he ended in seventh, leaving him eighth overall, 102 points down on points leader Bezzecchi, apparently out of the championship fight. Now he is third overall, 18 points behind current leader Jorge Martin<\/a> and four behind second-placed Ai Ogura<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just a few points behind M\u00e1rquez stand Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio<\/a>. This top five is covered by just 25 points, after fighting for the 407 points available at the first 11 rounds.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all riding the razor\u2019s edge\u2026 sometimes pushing riders over the precipice<\/p>\n

This is the closest halfway top five in MotoGP<\/a> history, by a long way, which makes 2026 a freak year. The racing may not be exactly thrilling but the championship contest has never been tighter.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the halfway top-five gap in 2016 was 87 points, in 2006 it was 47 points and in 1996 it was 88 points. If we adjust these scores from the former maximum of 25 points per weekend to the current maximum of 37 (12 for Saturday, 25 for Sunday), those old numbers are even more out of whack with today\u2019s points: gaps of 129, 69 and 130 points. It\u2019s the same story going all the way to MotoGP\u2019s earliest days \u2013 the 1950s \u2013 the championship was always much more spread out.<\/p>\n

What explains this phenomenon? Two factors \u2013 Aprilia<\/a> and Ducati \u2013 each with several very fast riders, plus spec tyres, spec electronics and the rest of MotoGP<\/a>\u2019s performance parity regulations.<\/p>\n

And plenty of no-scores: Bezzecchi has crashed out of six sprints\/races (one of those not his fault), Martin and M\u00e1rquez have fallen in three, Di Giannantonio in two. Ogura? He hasn\u2019t crashed out once.<\/p>\n

\"Marc<\/p>\n

Ogura, M\u00e1rquez and Fern\u00e1ndez on Sunday \u2013 Ogura is M\u00e1rquez\u2019s biggest threat<\/p>\n

\n MotoGP\n <\/p>\n

Why so many crashes? Because they\u2019re all riding the razor\u2019s edge, all the time managing a tricky misbalance of grip between front and rear tyres, with the rear often pushing the front into corners, sometimes pushing riders over the precipice.<\/p>\n

With 11 rounds done and 11 to go, it\u2019s Martin on an Aprilia, Ogura on an Aprilia, M\u00e1rquez on a Ducati, then Bezzecchi on an Aprilia and Di Giannantonio on a Ducati. And Ra\u00fal Fern\u00e1ndez<\/a> on another Aprilia in sixth, 25 points behind Di Giannantonio. The top rider on another brand is the ever-entertaining Pedro Acosta<\/a>, plying his trade on a KTM<\/a>, 60 points off the lead.<\/p>\n

Most riders and other pitlane people rate M\u00e1rquez as the favourite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know who\u2019s the best rider and I think he will win the championship,\u201d said LCR Honda<\/a> sub Cal Crutchlow<\/a>, who on Sunday was close to scoring his first points since 2023 until he fell.<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez is favourite for obvious reasons: his talent, his speed, his strategy, both on and off the track, and his ability to build a championship. And his Desmosedici GP26 is much friendlier than his GP25, although sometimes not quite as good as Aprilia\u2019s RS-GP.<\/p>\n

Who should he fear most?<\/p>\n

Martin leads the way but in unconvincing fashion. He crashed out of both Catalan races and caused the Turn 1 pile-up in Hungary. He also withdrew from the Spanish GP with brake problems.<\/p>\n

The 2024 champ has been very up and down: winner in France, second in Brazil, the USA and Italy, then off the podium more times than on it. At Sachsenring, he fought a long duel for fifth with Ducati\u2019s Pecco Bagnaia, half a second off M\u00e1rquez\u2019s winning pace.<\/p>\n

Why? Because he still hasn\u2019t tailored the Aprilia to his riding style.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe characteristic of Jorge is to try to somehow force the corner entry,\u201d says Aprilia\u2019s technical director Fabiano Sterlacchini. \u201cThis is probably a strong point, but sometimes it\u2019s also his kryptonite. Where we have the problem with the front tyre is when the hard spec is a bit on the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fabio<\/p>\n

Di Giannantonio made the podium in the sprint, then crashed out of the GP<\/p>\n

\n MotoGP\n <\/p>\n

And the hard was a bit on the limit at Sachsenring, so Martin struggled with front grip all weekend, leaving him unable to get close to fighting for podiums.<\/p>\n

Martin felt better in the earlier stages of the season and thinks his crash-marred Catalan weekend \u2013 where he fell six times in four days, may have started the rot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Barcelona<\/a>, after so many crashes, something clicked,\u201d he said on Sunday. \u201cBut today wasn\u2019t because I don\u2019t feel confident, it\u2019s because I\u2019m losing the front. We need to work on that, and maybe work on my style, and try to understand how to be faster.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sachsenring is Marc M\u00e1rquez\u2019s happiest hunting ground \u2013 on Sunday he equalled the all-time circuit wins record of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[375008,64,63,4280,806,805,803,804,289194,85],"class_list":["post-798510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-2026-motogp-german-gp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-marc-marquez","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sachsenring","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}