The German round of the MotoGP series saw some interesting results. Marc Marquez (Ducati) had won eight races in a row at the circuit (he missed the last three years with injury). That streak ended today, and Jorge Martin (Ducati) took a blow to his championship hopes when he crashed out of the lead of Sunday’s race with just two laps remaining.
Martin was dominant in Saturday’s Sprint as he took the win over a resurgent Miguel Olivera (Aprilia), who finished second, and third place Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati).
Martin appeared to be on his way to a second victory this weekend as he led nearly the entire Sunday race before crashing out with less than two laps remaining. This handed the win to Bagnaia, who finished with a large gap over second place Marc Marquez and his brother Alex in third.
The series takes a break for several weeks. Bagnaia bumps Martin out of the championship points lead. For full results and points for Saturday’s Sprint race, visit the MotoGP site here. For full results and points for Sunday’s MotoGP race, visit the MotoGP site here.
Lots of good racing – MM again shows that he is in top three despite getting older. With the ’24 bike he may be in top two – especially if he starts collecting points instead of win or crash.
I’m rooting for Jorge, because next year his bike may limit how competitive he is and this may be his last chance. But how do you not like Pecco, such a class act on and off the track. This is part of the drama that keeps me coming back for more!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The Aprilia is a much better bike than it gets credit for. I’m confident that Martin will be in the championship hunt next year the same as this year. Viñales is arguably the best rider on the Aprilia today. But, if you look at his lackluster results he had when he inherited Lorenzo’s title winning Yamaha you’d notice the same pattern we see today from him on the Aprilia. I’m willing to bet the Aprilia is as good as the Ducati and next year with Martin and Bezzecchi I think we’ll finally see what the bike can really do.
Also, with 2 less bikes on the grid, Ducati wont have as much data next year to help them along in a race weekend. Though their plan of 3 GP25 + 3 GP24 will still give them the advantage of being able to try 6 different changes at once. I only hope KTM can figure out the issues they are having. I like it when Acosta is up fighting with the leaders. It would be nice to see all 3 of the European bikes regularly on the podium and maybe the occasional Yamaha. I’m sure everyone is getting sick of the “Ducati Lockout” every week.
“The Aprilia is a much better bike than it gets credit for.”
-I think Marc Marquez agrees with you.
before his announced move to Duc’s factory team didn’t MM say he wanted a top spec bike bike and that he did not care what team(color) or brand? If so, then that must mean he’d have gone to Aprilia (and/or KTM) knowing he could put their bike to better use than his 2023 Duc.
“I’m confident that Martin will be in the championship hunt next year the same as this year.”
–Indeed.
“Viñales is arguably the best rider on the Aprilia today. But, if you look at his lackluster results he had when he inherited Lorenzo’s title winning Yamaha you’d notice the same pattern we see today from him on the Aprilia.”
–Indeed. not much more to Vinales then a test rider.
“I like it when Acosta is up fighting with the leaders.”
–I am 100% NOT rooting against Acosta but what the heck?
as expected he made a very exciting and successful start to his MotoGP career then…nothing. Just like Vinales (and Fabio but I give Fabio more credit then MV). PA proudly stated, early in the season while he was in the news on a positive note, that he is not affected by the pressure of racing in MotoGP. apparently he has now learned just how wrong he was. I don’t think the bike is to blame as much as Rookie mistakes/nerves.
Definitely a bummer for Martin. Although it may be easy to blame the rider, I think it is another example of the edge these guys ride on.
if a rider is penalized for having .01 bar less air pressure/touching the green paint by an inch three times (presumably for safety), how was mm93 not black-flagged for having a sharp, jagged, neck-shaped chunk out of his windscreen?
Because MM never gets penalized for anything ever.
He was the one that got penalized for tire pressure at the Dutch GP Mick. Sixteen seconds. Went from fourth to tenth.
That’s how mis-informed crap gets slung about. I thought you were above that.
Ps: watch some races
They are getting a little OCD about tire pressure lately. A lot of guys like to race 24psi cold. You would think that they would reach 27.5 once they warmed up.
Odd that they would let MM get away with so much mayhem and then give him a dunce cap for a tire pressure that he probably did not personally set.
I saw a portion of one GP race at a coffee shop in France about a decade ago. It was chilly. We were riding and stopped to warm up at a place that happened to have the race on. I saw a few motocross races while playing pool in Minnesota at a friend’s house.
I used to watch all the races until 2002. AMA WSB GP motocross… The whole four stroke thing ruined everything for me. It took away my reason to care. I guess I would go to an observed trials event if one came by. I still suit up and race for myself from time to time.
Unless you were just kidding. Then never mind. 😶
Well that’s a bummer. I was kind of hoping that Martin would win the championship. But I guess all Bags has to do is crash and he’ll be back in the hunt. Maybe he’ll win next year on an Aprilia. That would be hilarious.
Q appears to be slowly raising from the dead. Maybe Yamaha is starting to sort things out a bit. I read that Honda is much faster this year. Last year they were about on par with WSB bikes. What’s up with that?
This is similar to what happened last year. Jorge was the credible challenger but a he had more DNF’s than Bagnaia and that made all the difference. A difference last year was that he was very vocal about his ambitions – he didn’t care about the championship, just race wins where this year he says he is focused on the championship. Bagnaia is on a 4 win streak now. He’ll be hard to stop.