MotoGP™: Fabio Quartararo(Monster Energy Yamaha) goes a race clear in the World Championship with a second straight victory.

Fabio Quartararo has won a Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland which could well be looked back as a crucial race in the 2022 MotoGP™ World Championship title fight. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ rider not only scored consecutive victories for the first time this year but is now 34 points clear at the top of the standings. Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro remains second in the title race after finishing fourth at the Sachsenring but the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has a mountain to climb after he crashed out while chasing Quartararo on Lap 4.

From that point on, Quartararo asserted himself in a dominant display to win by almost five seconds after 30 laps, with Prima Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco finishing a lonely second. There was some solace for the Ducati Lenovo Team in the form of Jack Miller, who fought back from a Long Lap penalty to earn the final place on the podium, while the Mooney VR46 Racing Team’s Luca Marini grabbed fifth on another Desmosedici.

Bagnaia had sensationally qualified on pole on Saturday afternoon but, as is so often the case, Quartararo was not going to allow a key rival to catch an early break. ‘El Diablo’ was late on the stoppers when they arrived at the first corner of the race and nabbed the early lead, as Aleix Espargaro took up third, ahead of Zarco, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), and Miller. Bagnaia then overtook Quartararo at the start of the second lap but the Frenchman was not having it, forcing his way back down the inside of the Ducati as they exited Turn 1.

The manoeuvre left Pecco having to chase, but his pursuit ended just two laps later when he lost the rear of his Desmosedici as he tried to round Turn 1 again. The crash gave Quartararo a free kick in the context of the World Championship, and a clear, one-second lead over second place in the Grand Prix, which had been inherited by Zarco after he had squeezed past Aleix Espargaro on Lap 2. There was more change in the order on Lap 5 when Miller served his Long Lap for a Free Practice crash under yellow flags, and he was nearly down again due to the gravel left in the penalty loop. He dropped to seventh on the timing screen but soon reclaimed sixth spot from Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing).

By then, Maverick Viñales had made his way up the order to be running just a position behind third-placed Aprilia team-mate Aleix Espargaro, and starting to apply the pressure. However, Miller cleared Di Giannantonio on Lap 12 and that released him to go after both of the RS-GPs. He looked like becoming a handful for Viñales but ‘Top Gun’ soon had bigger issues when his rear ride height device got stuck on, and he would retire from the race.

After little more than 20 laps, Quartararo, who had made the bold choice of a medium compound Michelin rear tyre when hard was the far more popular option given the hot conditions, had stretched his margin over Zarco to more than three seconds. His fellow Frenchman enjoyed a similar gap over Aleix Espargaro, but Aprilia’s ‘Captain’ was coming under serious attention from Miller. ‘Jackass’ fired his Ducati down the inside of #41 at Turn 1 on Lap 23 but ran it in too deep and could not make the move stick, and the result was the same when he tried again on Lap 26. Ironically, Espargaro himself went wide through there on Lap 28 and Miller marched through a big hole, into third position.

Quartararo got more than five seconds ahead of the rest of the field in the last handful of laps before cruising to victory by an official margin of 4.939 seconds. Zarco took the chequered flag 3.433 seconds up on Miller, with Aleix Espargaro a few tenths further back as he battled for rear grip in the closing stages. Marini prevailed in a battle with Martin as they finished fifth and sixth respectively, while Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM factory Racing) demonstrated once again that he is the quintessential ‘Sunday man’ by riding up from 15th on the grid to seventh.

The top 10 was rounded out by Di Giannantonio, Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™). Points were also scored by Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) in 11th, from Raul Fernandez (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing), Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), Andrea Dovizioso (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team), and Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing). Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) was the last rider to make it home, in 16th spot.

1. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™)
2. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 4.939
3. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 8.372
4. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 9.113
5. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 11.679
6. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 13.164
7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 15.405
8. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 15.851
9. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 19.740
10. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 21.611.

Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland

MotoGP™ RAC Classification 2022

Sachsenring

, June 19th 2022

35º C

Clear

Track condition: Dry

Humidity: 22%

Ground: 51º

Pos.	Points	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h
1	25	20FabioQuartararo	FR	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	160.3	41’12.8160
2	20	5JohannZarco	FR	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	160	+4.939
3	16	43JackMiller	AU	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	159.7	+8.372
4	13	41AleixEspargaro	ES	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	159.7	+9.113
5	11	10LucaMarini	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	159.5	+11.679
6	10	89JorgeMartin	ES	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	159.4	+13.164
7	9	33BradBinder	ZA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	159.3	+15.405
8	8	49FabioDi Giannantonio	IT	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	159.3	+15.851
9	7	88MiguelOliveira	PT	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	159	+19.740
10	6	23EneaBastianini	IT	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	158.9	+21.611
11	5	72MarcoBezzecchi	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	158.8	+23.175
12	4	25RaulFernandez	ES	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	158.6	+26.548
13	3	21FrancoMorbidelli	IT	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	158.4	+29.014
14	2	4AndreaDovizioso	IT	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	158.3	+30.680
15	1	87RemyGardner	AU	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	158.3	+30.812
16		6StefanBradl	DE	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	157	+52.040
Non-classified riders
		44PolEspargaro	ES	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	158.5	8 laps
		12MaverickViñales	ES	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	159	11 laps
		73AlexMarquez	ES	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	155.4	24 laps
		30TakaakiNakagami	JP	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	159.2	24 laps
		40DarrynBinder	ZA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	135.1	25 laps
		36JoanMir	ES	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	157.8	27 laps
		63FrancescoBagnaia	IT	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	160.2	27 laps

Championship Standings MotoGP™ 2022

MotoGP™ Championship 2022

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Points
1	20FabioQuartararo	FR	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	172
2	41AleixEspargaro	ES	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	138
3	5JohannZarco	FR	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	111
4	23EneaBastianini	IT	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	100
5	33BradBinder	ZA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	82
6	63FrancescoBagnaia	IT	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	81
7	43JackMiller	AU	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	81
8	42AlexRins	ES	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	69
9	36JoanMir	ES	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	69
10	88MiguelOliveira	PT	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	64
11	89JorgeMartin	ES	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	61
12	93MarcMarquez	ES	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	60
13	10LucaMarini	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	52
14	12MaverickViñales	ES	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	46
15	44PolEspargaro	ES	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	40
16	30TakaakiNakagami	JP	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	38
17	72MarcoBezzecchi	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	35
18	73AlexMarquez	ES	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	26
19	21FrancoMorbidelli	IT	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	25
20	49FabioDi Giannantonio	IT	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	16
21	40DarrynBinder	ZA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	10
22	4AndreaDovizioso	IT	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	10
23	87RemyGardner	AU	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	9
24	25RaulFernandez	ES	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	5
25	51MichelePirro	IT	Aruba.it Racing	Ducati	0
26	6StefanBradl	DE	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0
27	32LorenzoSavadori	IT	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	0