MotoGP 2023: Jorge Martin secures sprint win while ‘King of the Ring’, Marc Marquez scores no points

It was a familiar face at the front of the grid at the start of the sprint in Sachsenring. Francesco Bagnaia managed to put his Ducati on pole once again and had Luca Marini and Jack Miller give him company on the front row of the grid. All eyes were, however, set on Marq Marquez as the Spaniard has won at Sachsenring on his last 11 visits, earning him the title of ‘King of the Ring’.Marquez had already crashed a couple of times during practice and during qualifying but managed to secure a seventh-place start.

Jack Miller was fighting to stay at the front from the word go and was leading the group by Lap 2. Starting from sixth place, Jorge Martin of Prima Pramac Racing was quickly able to park his Ducati behind Francesco Bagnaia who was in second place. Further back, Aleix Espargaro went from one end of the track to the other during his launch and this compromised Fabio Quartararo’s start, dropping him down to P15. Johann Zarco was another rider that did not get off the line well and then dropped back a bit more after his contact with Brad Binder. Marquez was looking solid during the opening laps but his struggle with the Honda RC213V saw him running wide a few times and dropping down several places throughout the sprint.
Laps 3 and 4 saw Bagnaia and Miller exchange places as the battle between the two was raging on. Martin took advantage of this squabble and managed to pass the two riders in one swift move. He then went on to blaze through the next few corners and even managed a miraculous save right after the overtake. The initial push after the overtake helped Martin put more than half a second between him and the next rider behind. Martin would not be threatened by anyone for the rest of the sprint and score a win. Behind him, Francesco Bagnaia also settled in P2 while Jack Miller finished P3. Miller was at risk of being overtaken by Luca Marini a few times but managed to stay ahead.

Marini had to divert his attention towards defending his spot because of the fast-approaching Brad Binder. The South African rider was quick on his wheels and had strong pace. However, Marini did not make it easy for Binder at all. The two traded places but Marini always came out ahead. What Binder might not have expected was a last lap, high-speed lunge by Johann Zarco into Turn 11. The French rider had been following Marini and Binder and decided to send it in the last lap to finish P5. Zarco and Binder did make contact during that overtake, pushing Binder off the track. This incident did draw the attention of the stewards but was deemed as a racing incident and no penalties were handed.
Throughout the race, there were only two retirements, the first one being Jona Folger of the GasGas Factory Racing Team. He probably suffered a mechanical failure and came back to the pits during Lap 7. The other casualty of the sprint was Maverick Vinales who was yet another rider that crashed coming into Turn 1. On course to start Lap 12, the front end of Vinales’ Aprilia washed out and off he went into the gravel trap. We had seen Marquez suffer a similar fate during P2 and collide with Zarco who was just coming out of the pit lane.

Marco Bezzecchi had another anonymous weekend as he started from P5 but ended in P7. He was followed by Alex Marquez and Aleix Espargaro. Despite not scoring any points, it was refreshing to see all Honda’s making it to the finish line. The RC213V has been a difficult machine to tame and while there were only two Honda riders on the grid, they both did finish the race on top of their bikes. Given his excellent record at Sachsenring, Marquez would not be too pleased about finishing P11 and outside the points in the sprint today.