Jorge Martin pulled off a breathtaking double overtake on Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller to secure his second sprint victory of 2023 at the Sachsenring.
The Pramac Ducati rider got a rapid start from sixth on the grid to move up to third by the end of the opening tour as pole-man Bagnaia battled with KTM’s Miller for the leadership, the two swapping spots several times across the opening couple laps.
Miller looked to be struggling significantly through the fearsome Turn 11 every lap, Bagnaia crawling all over the back of the Aussie – though he found a pass tricky due to the impressive rear traction of Miller’s RC16.
Martin then managed to take profit of Bagnaia getting bottled up behind Miller through Turn 11 to dive down the inside of both into the high-speed Turn 12, the Spaniard barely getting through the corner as the front wheel came just millimetres away from folding.
He clung on though and established himself in the lead, building up nearly a seconds-worth of an advantage by the time Bagnaia finally dispatched Miller on the following tour, he then focussing his sights on the back of his fellow Ducati pilot.
The series leader found it impossible to live with the pace of Martin however, the reigning world champion slipping backwards across the rest of the encounter as Martin took the chequered flag 2.4 seconds to the good.
Miller meanwhile managed to find his rhythm after the two leading Desmosedici’s cleared him, leaving him to come home third to complete the sprint rostrum well up the road from the emphatic battle for fourth as a fading Luca Marini desperately tried to hold off Brad Binder’s charging KTM.
The South African was painted to the rear of Marini’s VR46-run Ducati throughout the second half of the contest as he tried to find a way past, though the Italian continually braked to complete perfection as time and time again Binder dived through only to run wide and drop back behind once again.
Johann Zarco – who was forced to sit in behind the duelling pair for most of the race – eventually had had enough and barged his way into fifth on the very final tour on Binder at Turn 11, the Frenchman keeping the position to the line just behind Marini and ahead of Binder who claimed sixth.
Marco Bezzecchi had a rather subdued afternoon as he struggled for outright speed en-route to seventh to further slip behind Bagnaia in the points – the two time 2023 grand prix winner also falling behind the victorious Martin to third overall – while Alex Marquez grabbed eighth on his Gresini Ducati.
Aleix Espargaro meanwhile secured the final point for ninth on his Aprilia after getting past Enea Bastianini on the very final lap to the tune of just 0.024s, the latter completing the top ten on his factory Ducati.
Marc Marquez had visibly rolled back his enthusiasm having crashed three times during qualifying, the six-time premier class champion crossing the line only 11th despite having moved up as high as fifth in the early goings – his struggles again illustrating the deep hole Honda currently resides in.
He at least managed to stay ahead of both factory Yamaha’s, Fabio Quartararo taking 13th in the end following a poor start that saw him drop to 15th in the early reckoning – the 2021 MotoGP champ leading home team-mate Franco Morbidelli who was 15th after dropping behind GasGas rookie Augusto Fernandez in the latter stages.
Miguel Oliveira was 16th just ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, while Raul Fernandez was the final classified finisher on the second RNF machine after Maverick Vinales crashed out at Turn 1 late on and Jonas Folger retired to the pits with a seeming technical problem on his GasGas.
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