After scoring no points at the Grands Prix in Brno and Assen, Pedro Acosta made his return to the points in the MotoGP sprint at the Sachsenring. The Spanish KTM factory rider finished eighth on Saturday, scoring two points; last year, Acosta had finished ninth on the traditional circuit near Hohenstein-Ernstthal. Brad Binder (South Africa) came away empty-handed in twelfth place.
Otherwise, it was business as usual: World champion Marc Márquez triumphed and now stands alone as the record holder in MotoGP with 19 sprint victories. Ducati dominated the short race – Àlex Márquez finished second right behind his older brother, while Fabio Di Giannantonio from Italy secured third place.
Reigning champion Márquez, who has only once failed to win on this circuit across all classes (2024), remains on course for another double victory. He had already won both races there last year. “Álex pushed hard. I tried to maintain a consistent pace,” said the 33-year-old.
In qualifying, Márquez had claimed pole position with a lap record of 1:19.041, having also been the fastest in Friday’s practice. On Sunday (2:00 p.m./DF1 and Sky), the next opportunity awaits at the German Grand Prix: if Márquez wins the main race, he will equal the benchmark set by Giacomo Agostini – the record world champion from Italy is so far the only rider to have taken ten victories in the premier class on a single circuit (Imatra/Finland).
The weekend took a bitter turn for Marco Bezzecchi, however: the Aprilia rider, who had already crashed in Assen, broke his left collarbone in qualifying and must now undergo surgery. In the world championship standings, Jorge Martín of Spain continues to lead, having finished sixth in the sprint. Di Giannantonio moved past Bezzecchi into second place, with Marc Márquez fifth behind Japan’s Ai Ogura.
