Jorge Martin extended his championship lead with victory in a thrilling Moto3 German Grand Prix, with main title rival Marco Bezzecchi edging John McPhee to second.
Poleman Martin held onto the lead on the run into the first corner at the start, while the Besta Capital KTM duo of Marcos Ramirez and Jaume Masia slotted in behind the Gresini rider.
Bezzecchi led the charge on Martin at the start of lap two, though Ramirez retaliated at the Sachsen Kurve, and snatched the lead at the start of the third tour.
Martin reclaimed the lead from Ramirez at the Sachsen Kurve, with Tony Arbolino following the Spaniard through, while Bezzecchi recovered to third.
Bezzecchi proceeded to usurps Arbolino and Martin over lap four to head the field, though the pair would muscled past the Prustel GP rider two tours later at the Sachsern Kurve.
Martin regained the lead from Arbolino on lap seven and attempted to break the pack, opening up a gap of just over four tenths of a second.
The Gresini rider was unable to shake the chasing group, however, and relinquished the lead when he ran wide at Turn 1, with Bezzecchi and McPhee moving through.
Martin regrouped and shot to the front of the pack at the end of lap 13, though only for a couple of corners, as teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio nailed him on the brakes into Turn 1.
Di Giannantonio ran wide at the Omega corner seconds later, allowing Martin back through. Di Giannantonio made another attempt on the lead at Turn 1 on lap 16, but crashed and tagged his stablemate.
Martin stayed mounted on his Honda and only lost three positions, with Bezzecchi moving back into the lead.
By lap 19, Martin had hit the front again and broke away, opening up a 2.5-second gap to comfortably claim his fifth win of the season and extend his points lead to seven.
Bezzecchi and McPhee edged edged away from fourth-placed Ramirez in the closing stages, with the former pipping McPhee to second by just 0.056s on the run to the line.
Aron Canet followed Ramirez home to complete the top five, with Masia heading Jakub Kornfeil and Philipp Oettl.
Red Bull KTM Ajo stand-in Raul Fernandez dropped to the back of the pack after early contact with Lorenzo Dalla Porta at the final turn, but recovered to finish ninth, while the Leopard rider – who was ordered to drop three spots as a result – was 13th.
Ayumu Sasaki completed the top 10 from SIC teammate Adam Norrodin, while there were late crashes for wildcard Ai Ogura, who tangled with Gabriel Rodrigo at Turn 1, Enea Bastianini, who wiped out Alonso Lopez at Turn 7, and brief race leader Albert Arenas.
Nakarin Atiratphuvapat, Vicente Perez and Tatsuki Suzuki also added their names to the list of fallers.
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