Marini leads the Hondas home in German GP Sprint
Continued improvements saw Luca Marini set the pace for the Honda RC213V riders in the Sprint race, taking his best result of the year so far. Joan Mir takes learnings into Sunday.
A weekend of positivity continued for Luca Marini, the #10 getting faster with every session and able to not only stay with the other Hondas but frequently set the pace of the quintet. Taking 18th in Qualifying, his best grid position of the year, the Italian was primed for a strong Sprint race. Leading Zarco almost immediately, Marini would comfortably finish the 15 laps in 15th and as top Honda. It’s been a confidence boosting start to the weekend for the newest Honda recruit, able to banish the bad luck of Assen and get back on course. The goal for Sunday is clear: continue this trajectory.
It was not such a straightforward day for Joan Mir whose troubles continued. Able to find only marginal gains on his Repsol Honda Team machine, the double World Champion was left frustrated with the lack of feeling and speed. From 20th on the grid, Mir finished in 21st after a complicated Sprint. Setup experimentation combined with the hot conditions of Saturday did not help the #36 to change his fortunes, but there’s still time for overnight improvements.
Both Repsol Honda Team riders are focusing on the further positives to come from Sunday’s race. 30-laps around the tight and technical Sachsenring is always a demanding affair and could produce very different results to the Sprint.
Luca Marini
“It has been our best race so far, I really enjoyed the whole Sprint. I spent most of it behind Fabio and Diggia and I felt like I could stay there. It was really motivating to have this speed and it confirms the way we need to be working. This is exactly what we needed after the hard weekend in Assen. I am adapting much more to the bike, and we are seeing the progress forward. Of course there’s still more to do, but it’s important to enjoy these moments and do what we can tomorrow.”
Joan Mir
“Today, I made the save of my life at Turn One! It was incredible and I hope they can find the images. This is the positive from today. Our feeling was not really good after trying to experiment a little bit after a tough Friday but it wasn’t the way to go. We keep learning, this is really the most important thing and what we have to do in our current situation. Tonight we will check the data of the other guys and change our setup for Sunday.”
German GP - Sprint Result
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | 12 | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 20:18.904 |
| 2 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | 9 | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 0.676 |
| 3 | Bagnaia Francesco | 1 | ITA | 7 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 1.311 |
| 4 | Bastianini Enea | 23 | ITA | 6 | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 1.458 |
| 5 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | 5 | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 5.600 |
| 6 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | 4 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 6.281 |
| 7 | Vinales Maverick | 12 | SPA | 3 | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 6.284 |
| 8 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | 2 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 9.061 |
| 9 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | 1 | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 9.201 |
| 10 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | 0 | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 10.800 |
| 11 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | 0 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 13.815 |
| 12 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | 0 | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 13.960 |
| 13 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | 0 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 14.432 |
| 14 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | 0 | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 15.329 |
| 15 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 15.430 |
| 16 | Fernandez Augusto | 37 | SPA | 0 | Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 | KTM | 15.493 |
| 17 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | 0 | LCR Honda | Honda | 16.205 |
| 18 | Nakagami Takaaki | 30 | JPN | 0 | LCR Honda | Honda | 20.321 |
| 19 | Bradl Stefan | 6 | GER | 0 | HRC Test Team | Honda | 23.733 |
| 20 | Gardner Remy | 87 | AUS | 0 | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 26.366 |
| 21 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | 0 | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 26.668 |
| 22 | Acosta Pedro | 31 | SPA | 0 | Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 | KTM | 26.715 |
Location Information
Car and bike races have been held on closed public roads in the area around the town of Chemnitz, Germany since the 1920s and were still taking place until as recently as 1990. It was decided, however, that the five mile course through such a densely populated area was no… read more.
| Length | 3.671 kilometres / 2.281 miles |
| Width | 12 metres |
| Left corners | 10 |
| Right corners | 3 |
| Longest straight | 0.700 kilometres / 0.435 miles |
| Constructed | 1996 |
| Modified | 2001 (resurfaced in 2017) |
Lerchenstraße, 09337 Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m 19.423s (166.3km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Lap | 1m 20.667s (163.8km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Time | 40m 40.087s (162.4km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati,2024) |
| 2024 Race Winner | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2024 Sprint Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
