* Novice
Fabio Quartararo has secured consecutive MotoGP victories with a dominant German 2022 MotoGP victory at the Sachsenring, ahead of Johann Zarco and Jack Miller.
Meanwhile, a costly early mistake by pole-sitter Francesco Bagnaia could have dashed the Italian’s hopes for the title.
Bagnaia was defeated on turn 1 by Quartararo, then attacked the Frenchman next time. However, the Frenchman, eager to keep his M1 outdoors, cut himself directly under the Ducati.
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The disaster, in the form of the fourth DNF of the season, hit the exit of the same closed curve a few laps later, when the back of the Desmosedici de Bagnaia slipped while applying power.
This error gave the current champion Quartararo a 1.3 second advantage over the Zarco of Pramac Ducati, with the Aprilias of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales settling in third and fourth place.
30 laps at the Sachsenring always torture the left side of the rear tire and this afternoon’s scorching temperatures (35 in the air, 52 on the ground) have further increased tire durability concerns.
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With Quartararo among only three riders (along with Vinales and Pol Espargaro) to choose the medium rear tire instead of the hard one, all eyes were on any indication of weakness at the end of the Yamaha rider’s career.
But Quartararo has maintained a solid pace until the end and now has a 34-point lead, with Zarco equally confident in second place, while Aleix Espargaro and Miller have fought for third.
Vinales had accompanied Espargaro during the first half of the race, and the RS-GPs were caught by Miller, who was recovering from a long-lap penalty for falling under yellow flags on Saturday.
The Australian finished fourth when the rear-height device of the Aprilia de Vinales was locked in the compressed position, forcing the Spaniard to retreat 13 laps to the end.
Miller threw himself inside Espargaro on the first lap with 8 laps to go, but he ran from outside … Then he repeated the move, with the same unsuccessful result, a few laps later, at which point both were threatened by Luca Marini, who was closing down. quickly in the duo of fights ahead with 5 laps to go.
However, just before Marini’s arrival, Miller finished third when Espargaro ran out of turn 1.
Zarco’s teammate Jorge Martin (mounted for the first time since hand surgery) completed the top six behind Marini, with Brad Binder at the helm of KTM seventh, rookie Fabio di Giannantonio eighth and Miguel Olive ninth.
Enea Bastianini’s chief of staff, Alberto Giribuola, was absent this weekend due to Covid, with Gresini technical coordinator Sergio Verbena as his replacement. Starting just 17th on the grid, and the only rider to fit the middle front tire instead of the hard one, the 2022 race triple winner finished tenth.
Suzuki’s Joan Mir fell moments after Bagnaia, ending his hopes of recovery from twelfth place.
Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Rins are back this weekend after the first accident in Barcelona. Rins, who suffered a fractured wrist, was forced to withdraw from the event after FP3, while Nakagami continued despite hitting his injured shoulder on Saturday.
Nakagami’s weekend of punishment ended in an early race fall, with teammate Alex Márquez and Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro also on the DNF list.
Quartararo is the first new German MotoGP winner since 2013, with Marc Márquez – unbeaten at the Sachsenring in the 125cc category in 2011 – absent while continuing to recover from a fourth operation on his right arm.
Márquez was replaced again by HRC test driver and local Sachsenring hero Stefan Bradl.
Sachsenring is the shortest circuit on the MotoGP calendar, only 3.7 km long and with a longer straight of 700 m. The circuit also has a sharp counterclockwise bias of 10 turns to the left, compared to 3 turns to the right, one of which is the infamous “cascade” descent on turn 11.
Sachsenring also scored the midpoint of the scheduled 20-round world championship season, with round 11 in Assen next weekend.