Marc Marquez has described the German Grand Prix weekend as «the worst of the year» so far, as a spate of crashes and mechanical troubles prevented him from fighting at the front in the MotoGP sprint.

The Gresini rider has a record eight wins around Sachsenring in MotoGP, but sixth was all he could achieve in Saturday’s half-distance race after qualifying on the fifth row in 13th.

The Spaniard’s troubles began in practice on Friday with two high-speed crashes, the second of which at Turn 11 left him with a fractured finger and bruises on his ribs.

Forced to go through Q1, Marquez had to abort his second run due to a mechanical problem on his GP23 before a final effort on his second bike was wrecked by Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl, who was found guilty of impeding him and handed a three-place grid penalty for the offence.

Although the six-time MotoGP champion was able to make some progress from outside the top 10 in the sprint, overtaking Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales at the final corner to grab four points for sixth place, it was still a case of what could have been for a rider who was previously unbeatable at the Sachsenring.

Speaking after the sprint, the 31-year-old bemoaned the issues he encountered both on track and in the Gresini garage as he finished more than six seconds behind race winner Jorge Martin on the GP24-spec Pramac Ducati.

«I already said that if I had a perfect weekend I would be able to fight with the top riders. But I had a disastrous weekend, the worst of the year,» he said.

«All the mechanical problems we can have, happened this weekend.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

«With Q1, with second tyre, we had a mechanical problem there and for that reason, we say this bike, ‘no’. We jumped on the other bike and unlucky for us there was a traffic jam.

«But there are some things you cannot control and this weekend ‘somebody’ say that you cannot do it.

«But even like this we continue to fight and starting from 13th place in the sprint race we were able to finish sixth.

«The good thing and the positive thing is when I had free track the pace was very similar to the top.»

Marquez reported a lot of physical pain in the wake of his scary highside crash in second practice despite being declared fit by doctors to take part in the sprint.

The Gresini rider explained that the anti-clockwise nature of the track allows him to see out the weekend, but even then it wasn’t easy to ride the bike for longer durations.

Asked for an update on his condition, he said: «About the physical side, in two hours I will know because it’s true that I ride with the strongest painkillers we can take, with an injection, [and it takes time for the effects of the painkiller to wear off]

«The finger is not a problem, it’s broken but okay, it’s acceptable. But with the ribs, especially when I do more than five laps I start to breathe more deeply and then the pain increases a lot.

«But fortunately, we have only two right corners. I promise you that if we are in a right [corner-heavy] circuit, [it was] impossible to ride. But with only two right corners I can accept and tolerate that pain.

«I checked with the doctors they said I can take the risk with what I have. But I feel something strange on the ribs, I feel that the finger was broken, I was moving [it was making] krr krr [sounds].

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

«But they said [yesterday] that it’s not risky to continue, it’s an acceptable risk. So for that reason I’m riding. If they say it’s too much, I stop.»

Marquez has made a number of podium comebacks this year after failing to break into Q2, with Le Mans and Catalunya standing out as two races where he was able to bounce back from difficult qualifying sessions.

But he was downbeat about his chances for Sunday’s race, explaining how Sachsenring is known to be notoriously difficult to overtake.

«Here it depends a lot on the start and the first lap,» he said. «On the first lap, you already lose a lot of time because you cannot overtake. You have only one two points to overtake. Last corner and turn 1, and then you cannot do anything.

«As soon as you are past Turn 1, until Turn 12 you cannot overtake. It’s impossible. So we need to be patient and try to understand that the situation is like this. Like today I was not crazy. I was just riding on my limit, fighting, trying to find my feelings and do my 100%.»

Jorge Martin claimed pole position for MotoGP’s German Grand Prix ahead of Trackhouse duo Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez, as Marc Marquez qualified 13th after being knocked out in Q1.

Pramac rider Martin broke the circuit lap record with a 1m19.423s on his first run around the Sachsenring, which would remain unbeaten as a number of yellow flags prevented rivals from improving their times at the close of the 15-minute shootout.

This was his fourth pole position of the year and followed just a week after factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia dominated the Assen weekend from start to finish to close within 10 points of him in the standings.

Bagnaia had to abort a flying lap twice in the final stages, first for a horrifying highside for Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and again for Gresini rider Alex Marquez’s crash, leaving him fourth on the grid for both the sprint and the grand prix.

Two riders who took advantage of the situation were Aprilia pair Oliveira and Fernandez, who had already looked rapid in the run-up to Q2.

Oliveira’s time of 1m19.471s from his first run was good enough to take second place, as he finished just 0.048s behind Martin, while Fernandez came from Q to make it two Trackhouse entries on the front row in third — despite still riding last year’s RS-GP bike. 

Fifth place behind Bagnaia went to Alex Marquez despite his late crash, while Franco Morbidelli lapped 0.523s behind his pole-sitting team-mate Martin to complete the second row of the grid.

Aprilia rider Vinales, one of the favourites for pole position after breaking the lap record on Friday, ended up seventh after being thrown off his bike in a nasty highside at Turn 10. Vinales was visibly shaken after the accident, as team-mate Aleix Espargaro watched on from the garage after withdrawing from the weekend.

Fabio di Giannantonio was among a few riders who were able to improve on their second run as he put his VR46 Ducati to eighth, ahead of factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini and GasGas Tech3 rider Pedro Acosta, who was once again the top qualifier on the KTM.

Acosta was closely followed by factory KTM rider Brad Binder, while VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi took 12th after narrowly making it into the second part of qualifying.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was the first rider to be eliminated in Q1 and will line up 13th at the Sachsenring, a track where he has won eight times in the premier class.

Still not fully fit after a frightening highside in Friday practice that left him with a broken finger and a bruise to his rib cage, Marquez posted a time of 1m20.263s in his first run that provisionally put him second.

After aborting his second run to switch bikes, Marquez had one final shot at progressing into Q2 when he encountered Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl in the first sector, wrecking any chance of improving his previous lap.

With Bezzecchi already having gone quicker than him, a frustrated Marquez was demoted to the fifth row of the grid alongside the top Yamaha of 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo and the Tech3 GasGas bike of Augusto Fernandez.

Jack Miller was a lowly 16th on the factory KTM ahead of LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, who beat factory rider Joan Mir and team-mate Johann Zarco to finish as the top Honda rider in 17th.

Remy Gardner qualified 22nd and last on his first MotoGP appearance since 2022, as he deputised for an injured Alex Rins at Yamaha.

But Gardner will move up a place in the final starting order, with Bradl — who originally qualified 21st — being hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Marquez on his final lap.

MotoGP German GP — Q2 results:

MotoGP German GP — Q1 results:

MotoGP’s second practice at the 2024 German Grand Prix proved to be something of a crash-fest as 10 riders suffered tumbles through the gravel.

VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi brought out the first display of yellow flags at the fast Turn 11 right-hander four minutes into the hour-long second practice session.

Three minutes later, Marc Marquez came off his Gresini Ducati at the same place when he tucked the front going into the corner. As he tried to save it, the rear gripped and sent him airborne in a sickening incident.

Twenty minutes into second practice, Fabio Di Giannantonio on the second VR46 bike brought out the red flag when he came off at Turn 1 – another right-hander – and punctured the air fence.

Moments after the session resumed, Takaaki Nakagami threw his LCR Honda down at the same corner. Honda stablemate Joan Mir followed a few minutes after, with Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta doing the same a minute later.

Augusto Fernandez on the sister Tech3 bike fell off at Turn 3 – the lap’s second right-hander – while Ducati’s Enea Bastianini had a fast off at Turn 11 while on an out-lap in the closing stages.

Most walked away unscathed. Marquez suffered a small fracture in his left hand, but it’s a small consequence for a crash that could have been much worse.

So why were the circuit’s right-handers claiming so many victims?

Sachsenring’s unique layout is truly an oddity on the calendar, comprising 13 corners, 10 of these being left-handers. As such, Michelin brings asymmetric tyres designed to have quick warm-up on the right side.

But its tyre selections are made pre-season, leaving no room to account for climactic conditions. Typically, July’s German GP is run in hot and sticky conditions. But an unseasonably cold summer in northern Europe meant Friday’s running took place in highs of just 18 degrees Celsius – a far cry from the 26 degrees experienced in qualifying last year, though Friday was run in similar conditions to this year.

From the exit of Turn 3 – the track’s second right corner – to Turn 11, the right side of the tyres is cooling off for around 31s before a rider flicks into the frightening downhill Turn 11. From Turn 11 to the next right-hander at Turn 1, it’s almost another 30s.

When conditions are as cold and as windy as they were on Friday in Germany, the problem is worse.

“It was difficult, because even if you push a lot through all the lap, the front temperature goes down really quick,” Friday pacesetter Maverick Vinales said. “So, it was tough. I was always with one eye looking [at the dashboard], ‘Ok this temperature is ok, I can go in faster’. But luckily, we have the temperature sensor, so you can see it on the dash. So, I try to play it a bit safer on that side. As soon as I see low temperature, I’m careful.”

While an odd track layout and conditions played their part, world champion Francesco Bagnaia – who was fifth quickest in second practice – believes the 2024 Michelin rear tyres have also been a factor.

The 2024 rear offers much more grip and performance, with lap records being smashed from circuit to circuit – including on Friday by Vinales in Germany – but it also pushes the front more in corners.

“I think that right now the rear grip is really high with the new tyres, and it’s pushing the front,” Bagnaia said. “So, [it] was already critical before but now the tyres have improved I think it’s even worse.

«If you look, everyone who crashed there crashed in the first lap because you arrive in the first lap that you can’t push too much, and then on the second attempt the temperature drops a bit. And even when you arrive there you have to be very careful and all three have crashed on the first [flying] lap.”