Unstoppable. Fabio Quartararo executed his strategy with excellence, had a great start, and calmly won the German GP. Francesco Bagnaia dropped out when trying to regain the lead
Unstoppable. Fabio Quartararo did what he had in mind: attack pole-position Francesco Bagnaia at the start and take the lead of the German GP. In a very bumpy race, the Frenchman managed to execute perfectly his plan to win at Sachsenring - his third victory of the season - and open another good 'fatty' at the top of the championship.
And Pecco? He dropped out. Still early in the race, the Italian driver was trying to catch Quartararo, when he lost the rear end at turn 1 and crashed. It is his third crash in the last four rounds. Johann Zarco, who took advantage of Bagnaia's situation to put Pramac on the podium, finished second. Jack Miller closes the top-three, after overtaking Aleix Espargaró with three laps to go.
The #41 Aprilia rider once again missed out on the podium and finished in fourth position. Behind him to close the top-10 are: Luca Marini, Jorge Martín, Brad Binder, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Miguel Oliveira, and Enea Bastianini.
With the result of the German GP, Quartararo now leads the Drivers' World Championship with 172 points, 34 more than Aleix Espargaró. Johann Zarco took third place, ahead of Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder. Bagnaia dropped to sixth, 91 points behind the leader.
MotoGP is back on track next week for the Dutch GP in Assen, the 11th round of the 2022 season.GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.
Find out how the German GP of MotoGP went:
As was the case throughout the weekend, MotoGP encountered scorching temperatures in Chemnitz on Sunday. On the eve of the start, the thermometers measured 35°C, with the asphalt hitting the 52°C mark. The relative humidity was at 23%, with wind speeds reaching 10 km/h.
At the start, all the riders except Enea Bastianini put on the hard front tire. The Gresini starter chose medium. At the rear the hard was also the choice of most, except Pol Espargaró, Joan Mir and Fabio Quartararo, who chose the medium in Germany.
Before the start, however, Viñales switched to the rear medium, while Mir abandoned the intermediate option and followed the majority with a rear hard.
When the lights went out on the Sachsering straight, the 95,214 spectators at the circuit saw pole-position Pecco Bagnaia get off to a good start and hold the lead for the first few meters, with Fabio Quartararo darting through turn 1 to take command of the race, ahead of Aleix Espargaró, Johann Zarco and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Owning the best paces throughout practice, Quartararo, Bagnaia and Aleix soon tried to break away. Pecco launched a first attack at turn 1, but, after a touch, Fabio retook the lead. Zarco went after Aleix at turn 11 in a valiant maneuver and took third place, already moving away from the front row.
Fabio then began to set a strong pace, trying to break Bagnaia's resistance. Still in the fourth lap, the Frenchman opened about 0s5. Shortly after, at turn 1, the Italian crashed again, putting a spanner in the works for the title. It was the fourth retirement in ten races.
Soon after, at the same turn 1, Joan Mir also crashed and left the race early.
Without Pecco, Fabio gained more than 1s lead at the top, with Zarco being responsible for leading the chase. Aleix was third, already 0s5s behind the Pramac rider. Viñales was climbing up to fourth, ahead of Di Giannantonio, Jorge Martín, Jack Miller, Brad Binder, Luca Marini, and Takaaki Nakagami.
Soon after, Álex Márquez retired to the LCR pits, and then the day for Honda's satellite team got even worse, as Takaaki Nakagami crashed and abandoned the race.
At the top of the race, the riders were spreading out, with the exception of the Aprilia duo. Viñales was chasing Aleix for the first time this year, pushing his teammate for third place.
Behind him Jack Miller, who had to do a long lap because of a yellow flag crash in practice on Saturday, passed Fabio Di Giannantonio to take fifth place.
At the top of the race in Germany, Quartararo could not - or simply did not - do what Izán Guevara and Augusto Fernández did in Moto3 and Moto2 respectively. The Frenchman had been keeping his margin within 1s2, without managing to increase the gap to Johann Zarco, who was getting further and further away from Aleix. The Catalan, however, could not get rid of Viñales, who was feeling Miller's pace getting closer and closer.
It was halfway through the race that Fabio, one of the few with a medium rear tire, began to pull away from Zarco. On lap 16, 'El Diablo' grazed the 2s margin, further opening the way to what would be his third victory of 2022.
With about 12 laps to go, Maverick started having problems with the RS-GP and losing pace. The Spaniard gradually dropped down the field until he returned to the Aprilia pits, where it became clear that the problem was with the device that adjusts the height of the bike.
Miller then pushed Aleix for third place, with Di GIannantonio back in fifth, followed by Martin, Marini, Brad Binder, Oliveira and Enea Bastianini.
With eight laps to go, Miller attempted an attack on Aleix in the corner, but failed to hold his line and eventually gave the position back. Meanwhile, Pol Espargaró retired to the pits, leaving only Stefan Bradl's RC213V on track. The test rider, who replaces Marc Márquez, was 16th.
Good from the Italian GP, Luca Marini managed to pass Jorge Martin and took fifth place, already 2s2 behind Miller.
With six laps to go in the German GP, Quartararo was just over 4s ahead of Zarco, who, in turn, was even more free of Aleix's shadow. The #41, however, was again being pressured by Miller, who was rowing to catch up once more. Luca, meanwhile, had also come a little closer, but was still a long way from being able to try anything.
With five laps to go, Jack went after Aleix again in turn 1, but almost like a replay, he got too hot, went over the point and gave the position back to the Catalan. Marini took advantage and was already 1s2 behind the Australian.
With three laps to go, Miller took advantage of a sprawl by Aleix in turn 1 to take the position. Marini also used the blunder to try to get there, but the Catalan pulled himself together and pulled away once more.