Schrötter having slipped slightly further back began battling back through, with a firm move on Vierge at Turn 1, before the German’s teammate, Tom Lüthi, followed suit but the Swiss rider was in too early and took out the Spaniard; a move he would later get handed a long lap penalty for.

At the front, the fight between the factory KTM of Binder and the customer KTM of Lecuona allowed Marquez to edge half a second clear after Lecuona took full advantage of the smallest gaps left open by Binder at the Omega Curve. Their battled allowed Marquez to very quickly turn his lead into one second and then two, as the Kalex rider began to look certain he would continue the love affair between the Sachsenring circuit and the Marquez family.

Schrötter seeing Marquez escape quickly darted through to second place, with Binder now unable, it appeared, to make an apex as his tyre life started to fade following his monster effort to fight through from the sixth row of the grid. But Binder would somehow find a second breath and reclaimed second place, with the South African fortunate to be able to escape even further clear by Schrötter and Lecuona fighting behind.

As we entered the final laps, Lecuona took third at Turn 13 before Schrötter hit back just a corner later into Turn 1, meaning the pair would have to settle their fight for the final podium place on the last lap. Schrötter would hold strong with a podium at home up for grabs and there was heartache for Lecuona as he crashed out at the final corner, ending what would have been his best result of the finish.