Quartararo delivers Sachsenring masterclass as Bagnaia crashes out

Starting on pole for the first time at Sachsenring, Bagnaia made a good start but it wasn’t enough to hold off the current MotoGP champion. 

The Yamaha rider, who was one of only two riders to choose the medium rear tyre - the other being Maverick Vinales - made the perfect start, however, Bagnaia was keen to respond immediately. 

As the pair came across the start-finish line Bagnaia went for a move into turn one, but Quartararo squirted his M1 back down the inside to regain the lead. 

Disaster for Bagnaia as his MotoGP title hopes are surely over…

As the reigning world champion began to pull clear and take full advantage of his medium rear tyre, Bagnaia shockingly lost the front at turn one.

After his DNF in Catalunya, only wins could realistically have pulled Bagnaia back into the title fight which is why staying with Quartararo was so significant. 

Moments later and the dreaded turn one caught out another rider as Joan Mir also went down.

With track conditions very, very hot, staying aboard your machine looked to be as big a challenge as going fast as Darryn Binder also crashed out. 

Three laps later and it was the turn of Takaaki Nakagami to crash out [turn eight], which was followed by shots of team-mate Alex Marquez sitting in his LCR Honda garage - technical issues the cause of his early retirement. 

At the front, Quartararo was continuing to set a red-hot pace although Zarco was keeping his fellow countryman honest.

A lead of 1.2 seconds gradually went up to 1.6s as the leading duo approached mid-race distance. 

In the battle for third, Vinales was producing by far his best race for Aprilia as he began to reel in team-mate Aleix Espargaro. 

As a battle for the win looked like it could be on the cards - Zarco went four tenths quicker than Quartararo on lap 14 - however, that was far from the case as the championship leader went five tenths faster on the next lap.

The gap then continued to grow between the French duo, while further back Vinales ran into ride-height problems as the rear device became stuck. Inevitably it forced the Spaniard into an early, but very unfortunate retirement. 

Hoping to be free from a battle for third, Espargaro now had Miller on his case as the Australian lined-up a move into turn 12. But Espargaro, who has been strong all year on the brakes, was proving tough to crack, just ask Vinales. 

Just to highlight how strong Espargaro is on the brakes, Miller tried two different moves at turn one but ran wide on both occasions. 

While all this was going on, Luca Marini was showing incredible pace. In fact, the Italian’s performance was even better than Quartararo out front as he started reeling in Espargaro and Miller.

With it looking like a mistake was needed from Espargaro in order to allow Miller through, the Aprilia rider did just that as he ran wide at turn one, allowing Miller to swoop through for third. 

Now leading by five seconds, Quartararo’s dominant performance continued through to the checkered flag as Zarco and Miller made it a Ducati 2-3.