Yamaha bid to end unwanted record at German MotoGP

This weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring marks a sobering three years since Yamaha’s last MotoGP victory.

That came at the hands of Fabio Quartararo, whose eleventh victory of his premier-class career extended his championship lead over Francesco Bagnaia to a massive 91 points (in the pre-Sprint era).

But the Frenchman’s title defence collapsed with just two more podiums that season, while Bagnaia and Ducati dominated to snatch the title away.

While the Japanese brands dropped firmly into the shadow of the Europeans, Bagnaia won the world championship again in 2023, before Jorge Martin made it three in a row for Ducati last season.

All other manufacturers - Ducati, Aprilia, KTM, Honda (and Suzuki) - have won MotoGP races since Sachsenring 2022, but Yamaha’s victory drought continues.

The closest chance came at Silverstone this year, where Quartararo was leading comfortably before a cruel ride-height failure.

Quartararo’s best result since 2022 thus remains a runner-up finish at Jerez this year, after a trio of third places in 2023. 

Meanwhile, last time at Assen, a fourth pole position of the season ended in a frustrating tenth place.

“The Dutch GP didn't go quite as we'd hoped,” Quartararo admitted.

“Especially in the second half of the race, I felt I had more pace, but getting stuck behind other riders made it difficult.”

Since Assen, Quartararo’s team-mate Alex Rins and Pramac’s Miguel Oliveira joined the Yamaha test team for a private outing at Brno. 

“We’ll be going over the private test data to see what we can take from that,” said Quartararo.

“Maybe that can help us a bit in the next two race weekends.

“I’ve won in Sachsenring before, but in general, the track has always been a bit tricky for us, particularly in Sectors 2 and 3.

“But we’ll focus on the positives and give it our all as always.”

For Rins, Sachsenring marks his first Yamaha appearance at the German venue, having missed last year’s event due to injury.

“The Dutch GP was a tough one. But it would have been a challenging race regardless, even without that early incident,” said Rins, who lost ground after taking evasive action on lap one, then struggled for rear grip as he tried to fight back.

“We’re aware of the issues holding us back, and at the moment, it’s all about putting in the work to find what we’re missing.

“I gave it my maximum during the private Brno test, which overall was quite positive. Yamaha is making a huge effort behind the scenes to drive development forward, so now we just have to stay focused and keep pushing.”

Team director Massimo Meregalli echoed the need for qualifying improvements, especially at a narrow venue like Sachsenring.

“Sachsenring presents unique challenges - its layout makes overtaking particularly difficult, so progressing into Q2 and securing a strong qualifying position will be even more critical than usual,” he said.

Quartararo starts the midway round of the 2025 season eleventh in the world championship, with Rins 17th.