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Autosport

Sport

MotoGP German GP: Martin beats Trackhouse Aprilia duo to pole, Marquez 13th

Aprilia TrackHouse MotoGP Marc Marquez Ducati Jorge Martin Raul Fernandez Alex Marquez Gresini Marc Marquez Miguel Oliveira

Jorge Martin claimed pole position for MotoGP’s German Grand Prix ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia duo Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez, as Marc Marquez qualified 13th after being knocked out in Q1.

Pramac Ducati rider Martin broke the circuit lap record with a 1m19.423s on his first run around the Sachsenring, which would remain unbeaten as a number of yellow flags prevented rivals from improving their times at the close of the 15-minute shootout.

This was his fourth pole position of the year and followed just a week after factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia dominated the Assen weekend from start to finish to close within 10 points of him in the standings.

Bagnaia had to abort a flying lap twice in the final stages, first for a horrifying highside for Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and again for Gresini rider Alex Marquez’s crash, leaving him fourth on the grid for both the sprint and the grand prix.

Two riders who took advantage of the situation were Trackhouse Aprilia pair Oliveira and Fernandez, who had already looked rapid in the run-up to Q2.

Oliveira’s time of 1m19.471s from his first run was good enough to take second place, as he finished just 0.048s behind Martin, while Fernandez came from Q1 to make it two Trackhouse entries on the front row in third - despite still riding last year’s RS-GP bike.

Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Fifth place behind Bagnaia went to Alex Marquez despite his late crash, while Franco Morbidelli lapped 0.523s behind his pole-sitting team-mate Martin to complete the second row of the grid.

Aprilia rider Vinales, one of the favourites for pole position after breaking the lap record on Friday, ended up seventh after being thrown off his bike in a nasty highside at Turn 10. Vinales was visibly shaken after the accident, as team-mate Aleix Espargaro watched on from the garage after withdrawing from the weekend.

Fabio di Giannantonio was among a few riders who were able to improve on their second run as he put his VR46 Ducati to eighth, ahead of factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini and GasGas Tech3 rider Pedro Acosta, who was once again the top qualifier on the KTM.

Acosta was closely followed by factory KTM rider Brad Binder, while VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi took 12th after narrowly making it into the second part of qualifying.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was the first rider to be eliminated in Q1 and will line up 13th at the Sachsenring, a track where he has won eight times in the premier class.

Still not fully fit after a frightening highside in Friday practice that left him with a broken finger and a bruised rib cage, Marquez posted a time of 1m20.263s in his first run that provisionally put him second.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

After aborting his second run to switch bikes, Marquez had one final shot at progressing into Q2 when he encountered Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl in the first sector, wrecking any chance of improving his previous lap.

With Bezzecchi already having gone quicker than him, a frustrated Marquez was demoted to the fifth row of the grid alongside the top Yamaha of 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo and the Tech3 GasGas bike of Augusto Fernandez.

Jack Miller was a lowly 16th on the factory KTM ahead of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, who beat factory rider Joan Mir and team-mate Johann Zarco to finish as the top Honda rider in 17th.

Remy Gardner qualified 22nd and last on his first MotoGP appearance since 2022, as he deputised for an injured Alex Rins at Yamaha.

But Gardner will move up a place in the final starting order, with Bradl - who originally qualified 21st - being hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Marquez on his final lap.

MotoGP German GP - Q2 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	9	1'19.423		165.216	305
2	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	10	+0.048 1'19.471	0.048	165.116	304
3	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	8	+0.220 1'19.643	0.172	164.760	300
4	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	9	+0.326 1'19.749	0.106	164.541	302
5	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	8	+0.368 1'19.791	0.042	164.454	301
6	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	9	+0.523 1'19.946	0.155	164.135	304
7	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	5	+0.527 1'19.950	0.004	164.127	305
8	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	8	+0.534 1'19.957	0.007	164.113	300
9	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	9	+0.555 1'19.978	0.021	164.070	305
10	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	9	+0.925 1'20.348	0.370	163.314	305
11	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	9	+1.023 1'20.446	0.098	163.115	305
12	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	8	+1.290 1'20.713	0.267	162.576	304
View full results

MotoGP German GP - Q1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	7	1'19.678		164.687	300
2	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	9	+0.437 1'20.115	0.437	163.789	303
3	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	8	+0.585 1'20.263	0.148	163.487	301
4	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	9	+0.632 1'20.310	0.047	163.391	300
5	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	9	+0.741 1'20.419	0.109	163.170	300
6	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	9	+0.837 1'20.515	0.096	162.975	305
7	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	9	+0.875 1'20.553	0.038	162.898	297
8	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	9	+0.887 1'20.565	0.012	162.874	298
9	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	9	+1.121 1'20.799	0.234	162.403	300
10	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	9	+1.484 1'21.162	0.363	161.676	299
11	S. Bradl HRC Test Team	6	Honda	9	+1.592 1'21.270	0.108	161.461	301
12	R. Gardner Yamaha Factory Racing	87	Yamaha	9	+1.619 1'21.297	0.027	161.408	300
View full results