A penultimate lap crash from Jorge Martin enabled Francesco Bagnaia to win his fourth MotoGP race in a row at the German GP and with it, the championship lead.
Martin made amends from his slow start yesterday to take the lead into Turn 1, with Bagnaia claiming one position to third place before overtaking Trackhouse Aprilia rider Miguel Oliveira in Turn 1 on Lap 2.
Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli swapped positions in both overly aggressive moves, with the Pramac rider up to third.
Bagnaia divebombed Martin in the final corner of Lap 2 to lead proceedings, with Morbidelli’s rapid pace putting him back up to third.
The Marquez brothers overtook both Trackhouse riders on Lap 6 to elevate themselves up one position, with younger brother Alex the highest in fourth.
Martin recovered the lead following a late dive up on the inside of Bagnaia into Turn 1 and built a small lead as his Pramac team-mate Morbidelli was eyeing up a move on the reigning champion.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales ran wide at the fast Turn 8 on Lap 8 amid pressure from Marquez behind, which saw him demoted back to 18th and he was lucky to avoid a high-speed crash.
Morbidelli pounced in an opportunistic move on Bagnaia to make it a Pramac 1-2 and both riders formulated an advantage over the factory Ducati rider.
Fabio Di Giannantonio brought his bike back to the VR46 Ducati garage amid fears of technical issues, which forced him into retirement and capped off a torrid weekend that saw him break his collarbone earlier on.
Bagnaia’s late-braking kept Gresini’s younger Marquez at bay over Laps 8 through 15, specifically at Turn 1, which has been a particularly strong point for the GP24 rider.
Bagnaia was able to produce an overtake on Morbidelli to reclaim second spot, as older brother Marquez dispatched Oliveira.
The 2020 runners-up Morbidelli tyres appeared to have fallen off a cliff as he was under pressure from both Marquez brothers at the midway point.
On Lap 17, the opportunity arrived for the younger Marquez brother to act as he put himself third following an overtake on Morbidelli’s inside at Turn 12.
Bagnaia’s overtake on fellow VR46 graduate Morbidelli a few laps prior allowed him to build momentum on the riders behind as he was separated by a second to leader Martin and third-placed Marquez.
While the gap to Marquez increased, Martin’s lead lap by lap into the final third of the race got smaller and smaller.
Martin reacted well to keep Bagnaia away as he increased the gap to 0.8s.
Morbidelli ran wide in Turn 1 on Lap 22 and clattered into M. Marquez in a racing incident, as both riders received a notification stating no further action would be taken.
With five laps left, older brother Marquez overtook Morbidelli and made it stick in his bid for a late race podium charge.
The following lap saw a lap-long battle for fifth as Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini battled hard, before a move in the final corner from Bastianini was made stick.
Drama occurred in the final two laps as older brother Marquez overcame a 1.8s deficit to snatch third away from his younger brother.
The drama ramped up further when Martin suffered a surprising crash in Turn 1 with two laps to go as he lost the front of his bike, putting Bagnaia into the lead and both Gresini riders on the rostrum.
Bagnaia took full advantage and cruised home to win, which put him in the lead of the championship as a result.
Gresini Racing saw both riders round off the podium spots, as both displayed strong pace to defeat the GP24 ridden by Bastianini.
Morbidelli was unable to form a late overtake on his rival, but delivered a strong finish from Pramac following Martin’s late crash.
Trackhouse’s Oliveira delivered his best Sunday result for the team in 2024, as he crossed the line in sixth.
GasGas KTM rider Pedro Acosta achieved the maximum in the race to finish in seventh, considering KTM’s lack of pace throughout the weekend.
Marco Bezzecchi and Brad Binder followed suit, with both riders finishing only 0.3s off rookie Acosta.
Raul Fernandez rounded off the top 10 with Fabio Quartararo a second adrift of the Trackhouse, while Vinales recovered well following his mistake to give factory Aprilia a 12th-placed finish.
Jack Miller and Augusto Fernandez struggled at the back with the Honda riders, as both KTM riders with Taakaki Nakagami, Luca Marini and Johann Zarco were all separated by half a second.
Stefan Bradl finished in 18th a whole 18-seconds behind Zarco and fended off full-time rider Joan Mir in the closing stages, before Remy Gardner rounded off proceedings seven seconds adrift.
