Germany MotoGP: Quartararo eases to victory as rivals falter

Already 22 points clear of the rest of the pack after his Barcelona win, Quartararo is now 34 points ahead of nearest rival Aleix Espargaro after easing to his third win of the campaign and become the first rider who wasn't the absent Marc Marquez to win at the Sachsenring since 2012.

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His championship charge was only strengthened by a costly crash for Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia, a poor run to 10th for Gresini's Enea Bastianini and Aleix Espargaro finishing a distant fourth.

Quartararo got his elbows out off the line from second on the grid as he out-braked poleman Bagnaia into Turn 1.

The Yamaha rider was on a contra strategy to Bagnaia, Quartararo opting to run the medium rear tyre while the Ducati runner was on the hard rear as track temperatures exceeded 50 degrees Celsius.

Bagnaia tried to take the lead from Quartararo into Turn 1 at the start of the second lap, but the Yamaha rider held firm under braking and muscled through the tightest of gaps up the inside to stay in front.

Quartararo proceeded to open up a lead of half a second as he began the fourth lap when disaster befell Bagnaia.

The Ducati rider crashed out exiting Turn 1 as the rear end of his GP22 came round on him, marking his fourth DNF in 2022 and second in succession.

And it looks like it may have been fatal on his championship chances, his points gulf to Quartararo now 91 at the halfway stage of this 20-round season.

Bagnaia's crash promoted Johann Zarco on the Pramac Ducati to second, with Quartararo 1.2s clear in the lead.

The Yamaha rider would continue to swell that advantage to over five seconds as he cruised to the chequered flag to claim back-to-back wins.

Zarco, who snatched second with a daring move on the inside of Aleix Espargaro at the fast downhill Turn 11 right-hander on lap two, would come under no threat in the runner-up spot as he crossed the finishing line 3.4s clear of Jack Miller in third.

The latter had to serve a long lap penalty on the fifth lap for crashing under yellow flags in FP3, which dropped him outside of the top six.

But the Australian rallied to get himself back into podium contention in the second half of the 30-lap race.

Bagnaia's crash had put Aleix Espargaro up to third, while his Aprilia teammate Maverick Vinales – who had also opted for the medium rear tyre – had worked his way from ninth to fourth early on.

Vinales was lapping slightly quicker than Espargaro ahead as he looked for a maiden Aprilia podium.

As Vinales struggled to find a safe way through on his teammate, Miller closed in on the pair.

A moment for Vinales going through the Turn 8 left-hander on lap 18 allowed Miller into fourth, but also signalled the beginning of the end of the Aprilia rider's race as he continued to drop positions.

Vinales was forced to pull into pitlane at the end of the next lap as his rear ride height device had broken.

Miller made two attempts to pass Espargaro at Turn 1 on lap 23 and 26, but ran wide on both occasions as the latter visibly struggled for grip in the closing laps.

A mistake for Espargaro at the same corner two tours later allowed Miller into third, which he would hold onto by 0.741s at the chequered flag.

VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini put on a strong charge to fifth late on having cleared a tense battle with Pramac's Jorge Martin, Brad Binder on the factory KTM and Gresini rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio – who ran fifth early on – in the closing stages.

Miguel Oliveira was 3.8s behind this group in ninth ahead of Bastianini, who is now 72 points behind Quartararo in the standings having slipped behind Zarco into fourth in the championship.

Marco Bezzecchi was 11th on his VR46 Ducati ahead of Raul Fernandez, who took his best result of the season on his Tech3 KTM in 12th.

Yamaha's Franco Morbidelli and his RNF Racing counterpart Andrea Dovizioso, and Remy Gardner on the sister Tech3 KTM took the final points.

Home hero and Marc Marquez's replacement Stefan Bradl was the only Honda to make it to the chequered flag in 16th, as teammate Pol Espargaro pulled out late on with physical issues following a heavy crash in FP1 on Friday.

Both LCR Honda riders Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez retired early on, the former crashing at Turn 8 on lap seven when the latter pulled into pitlane with a technical issue.

RNF's Darryn Binder and Suzuki's Joan Mir also suffered early crashes, with Mir's teammate Alex Rins a non-starter having withdrawn from the German GP on Saturday due to a fractured left wrist.

Cla	Rider		Bike	Gap
1	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha
2	Johann Zarco		Ducati	4.939
3	Jack Miller		Ducati	8.372
4	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	9.113
5	Luca Marini		Ducati	11.679
6	Jorge Martin		Ducati	13.164
7	Brad Binder		KTM	15.405
8	Fabio Di Giannantonio		Ducati	15.851
9	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	19.740
10	Enea Bastianini		Ducati	21.611
11	Marco Bezzecchi		Ducati	23.175
12	Raúl Fernández		KTM	26.548
13	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	29.014
14	Andrea Dovizioso		Yamaha	30.680
15	Remy Gardner		KTM	30.812
16	Stefan Bradl		Honda	52.040
	Pol Espargaro		Honda
	Maverick Viñales		Aprilia
	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda
	Alex Marquez		Honda
	Darryn Binder		Yamaha
	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati
	Joan Mir		Suzuki
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