MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

An overcast Sachsenring was the scene of broken records and family celebrations, as Pecco Bagnaia became Ducati’s most successful rider and was joined on the podium by Marc and Alex Marquez, the first brothers to share a premier class podium since 1997. Bagnaia took advantage of a calamitous mistake from Jorge Martin, the Spaniard crashing out of the lead and gifting Bagnaia a fourth consecutive victory and the lead in the world championship. Although sporting plenty of purple under the blue, Marc Marquez completed another trademark recovery from 13^th on the grid to 2^nd on the podium and got to celebrate with brother Alex, who secured his first podium of the season.

Martin did everything right for most of the race, keeping the lead from pole position ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Bagnaia, while front row starter Raul Fernandez once again lost ground at the start, allowing Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli past. The duo immediately started swapping paint, while Maverick Viñales held station in 7^th, Enea Bastianini got up to 8^th and Marc Marquez made some early progress up to 9^th after the first few corners. Brad Binder completed the top 10 on the opening lap, while Pedro Acosta lost ground down to 14^th.  

Martin enjoyed a quiet first lap at the front, but Bagnaia attacked Oliveira at the end of the opening lap to pick up the pursuit. He didn’t need much longer to challenge for the lead too, repeating the same move on Martin one lap later and getting some revenge early on. There was friendly fire from behind as well, as Morbidelli was setting a hot pace behind his teammate and trying to stretch away from the early battle between Oliveira and Alex Marquez. The Spaniard eventually found a way past on lap 5 at turn 11, while Viñales further demoted Fernandez for 6^th. The Trackhouse rider then had Marc Marquez breathing down his neck, but not for long, as Marquez got through at the final corner on the fifth lap and was getting a déjà vu from Saturday as he found himself on Viñales’ rear wheel once again. However, this time Viñales surrendered 6th as he went off-roading on lap 7 and dropped out of the top 15. Meanwhile, Bastianini made quick work of Fernandez for 7^th and the Spaniard settled in a rather lonely 8^th over the next few laps, while Binder had to contend with a recovering Acosta in the battle for 9^th. 

Not keen to see red for much longer, Martin retaliated against Bagnaia at the first corner to retake the lead on lap 7 and, making matters worse for the world champion, pal Morbidelli attacked him in the same place two laps later. Bagnaia seemed unable to respond at that stage and was falling into the clutches of a dangerous group including Alex Marquez, Oliveira and Marc Marquez, with Bastianini not too far back in 7^th position.

There was no immediate threat to Martin’s advantage, as the poleman’s hot pace kept Morbidelli seven tenths back after 10 laps, but that was barely a third into race distance and the Italian wasn’t patient for much longer. That gap halved over the next handful of laps, but so did the gap to Bagnaia, who picked up the pace towards the halfway point of proceedings, and Morbidelli’s focus soon switched to fending off his friend. Bagnaia made his move at the end of lap 15, claiming 2^nd back at turn 12, and found himself over a second behind the leader. Morbidelli seemed unable to keep up with his factory colleague and dropped into the reach of Alex Marquez, who now had his big brother in tow, Marc having finally overtaken Oliveira at the final corner on that same lap 15. The Portuguese rider’s pace seemed to be fading somewhat and he settled in 6^th position. 

While Martin was maintaining his advantage over Bagnaia at around 7-8 tenths of a second, the battle for third was taking place another second behind the Italian, where Alex Marquez attacked Morbidelli at turn 12 to claim the final podium position on lap 17. Marc Marquez could not follow his brother’s example and a collision with Morbidelli at the first corner looked like it would cost him a chance at the podium. Morbidelli running wide had left the door wide open for Marquez but their lines converged as he cut back and Marquez had to quickly regroup from a big moment that triggered his airbag and broke his screen. The Gresini rider briefly gave up the fight with Morbidelli in favour of a squabble with Bastianini and the duo traded blows for 5^th.  

While Bagnaia was maintaining his deficit to Martin to 8 tenths of a second with 7 laps left, the gaps behind were inflating, with Alex Marquez over two and a half seconds behind and Morbidelli still hanging onto 4^th a further two seconds back. That only lasted until Marc Marquez regrouped and finally attacked the Italian at the final corner with 6 laps remaining and then compatriot Bastianini kept him busy until the chequered flag. While that battle was unfolding, Marc Marquez was running away from the duo but had a two second gap to bridge to the final podium position and a few laps to decide how to best approach his brother.

Back at the front, Martin kept Bagnaia just out of striking distance, but the gap was steadily coming down and there was only half a second between the rivals with 3 laps remaining. Although the Spaniard seemed to have things largely under control, he dramatically crashed out of the lead at the start of the penultimate lap, gifting victory and the championship lead to Bagnaia – a fitting gift for his 200^th GP start. Over four seconds behind the reigning world champion, it was about to become a family affair to decide the remaining podium positions, Marc attacking Alex at turn 12 on the penultimate lap. The trio were untroubled over the final lap, while Bastianini eventually settled the score with Morbidelli for 4^th. Oliveira took the chequered flag in a lonely 6^th, while Binder lost two positions on the final lap, to Acosta and Marco Bezzecchi. Raul Fernandez settled in 10^th after losing ground early on. 

Martin’s blunder costs him the lead in the world championship, Bagnaia now in control by 10 points. Marquez recovers a bit of ground to trail Bagnaia by 56 points, with Bastianini 67 points back.

UPDATE

After the race, Augusto Fernandez, Stefan Bradl, and Johann Zarco were given a 16-second penalty for tyre pressure violations. That moves Luca Marini up into 15th place, giving his first points of 2024.

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