​Alex Marquez believes MotoGP’s newly implemented starting-grid rules made it notably harder for riders to gain ground at the start of the German Grand Prix sprint. The Gresini rider lined up second on the Sachsenring grid for Saturday’s half-distance race but failed to seize the initiative against his brother Marc Marquez, who locked out pole and led the field comfortably on his factory Ducati.
There were only modest movements within the top 10 otherwise, with Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura briefly overtaking Fabio di Giannantonio into Turn 1 and Aprilia’s Jorge Martin making a late push on Francesco Bagnaia during the opening lap. The relatively subdued start to the sprint followed MotoGP’s significant grid changes this weekend, as the distance between riders was increased from three to four metres. The adjustment was introduced on safety grounds after a crash-heavy Catalan GP, during which Johann Zarco sustained a major knee injury after his leg was struck by Francesco Bagnaia’s Ducati at the restart.
Alex Marquez, who himself had been injured in the same Barcelona race through no fault of his own, said the new start rules greatly reduced overtaking opportunities at the outset. “My plan was to attack him at the start, but with the new rules, we have more space between riders and more space between lines, so it’s quite difficult to gain position,” he explained. “If the other rider doesn’t make a big mistake, it’s almost impossible to arrive even in parallel.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team
After an uneventful opening lap, the Sachsenring race soon settled into a procession, with Marc Marquez firmly defending his lead through the remaining laps. Alex Marquez found himself under pressure from VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio on the final tour, but the latter never got close enough to attempt a pass. There were no major changes outside the podium positions either, with Ogura finishing fourth and Martin unable to overtake Fernandez, who was carrying back pain following a compression-release issue in qualifying.
Di Giannantonio attributed the lack of on-track action primarily to the circuit’s layout, which makes following another rider and preserving tyre life challenging. “We know this track is really, really difficult to overtake on,” he said. “Once you get just behind another rider, the front tyre heats up, and with all the corners being so tight, it’s really hard to maintain pace and then try to overtake. You can do it, but it’s pretty risky. So I had to attempt the move on Ogura early to try to be in a good position, but I also wanted to preserve some space in the middle of the race to save the front tyre, and that wasn’t enough to end the race strong. It was just too risky to overtake Alex.”
Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, and Marc Marquez, Ducati Team, were the focal points of the weekend’s attention as the series took a new direction with the grid reform. The changes aimed to enhance safety while altering overtaking dynamics, and riders will be hoping for clearer opportunities to surge through the pack as the season progresses.