Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) has given yet another show of strength. The crown defendant has taken a dominant win at the German MotoGP 2022 this weekend in the Sachsenring.  His compatriot Johann Zarco (Pramac), crossed the finish line almost five seconds behind. An outstanding Jack Miller (Ducati) completed the podium. 

The Australian pilot passed Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) for third in the final laps after fulfilling a long-lap penalty. The Spaniard thus missed a podium position by a hair for the second race in a row.  

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Pecci Bagnaia (Ducati), winner in Jerez and Italy this season, provided the greatest disappointment of the day after crashing out -for second time in a row- at the start while trying to prevent Quartararo from escaping ahead. A disaster for the Italian whose title chances are slowly slipping away.   

‘El Diablo’ has therefore taken his second consecutive victory of the season (third of the year) after Portugal & Catalonia and further stretched his lead of the standings. He now has 172 points, 34 more than Aleix Espargaro.

Behind them is Zarco, 61 points down from the top. The 2021 World Champion is well on his way to reclaiming his title, although there are still many races at play until the end of the season.  

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Quartararo overtakes Bagnaia and this crashes trying to keep up  

Bagnaia lost his starting position to Quartararo at the start of the German MotoGP 2022 under a 35°Cheat (51°C track temperature). Behind them, Aleix passed Zarco for third.  

At the end of the first lap, the pilot from Milan attempted a pass on the French rider but did not succeed. A few meters behind, Zarco had his back and reclaimed third place in an extreme manoeuvre. 

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On the second lap, Quartararo escaped ahead thanks to a lightning fast lap. Bagnaia, two laps later tried to catch up but the herculean Frenchman pushed the Italian to breaking point and this fell to the ground. Coincidentally, moments later Joan Mir (Suzuki) would suffer the same fate at that very same point on the track.  

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Things couldn’t have turned out any better for the leader of the championship, as he witnessed his main rival for glory crash out at the very beginning of the race. From then on, his feisty compatriot (Zarco) became his only rival but was hardly a match for him.  

‘El Diablo’ commands the race until the end  

The #20 was able to keep and grow a comfortable distance. He could have escaped further but he had to be clever about his tyres. Knowing that the burning track was rapidly deteriorating the tyres he chose to save his compounds and avoid any nasty surprise at the end of the German MotoGP 2022.  

His control was such that, when he chose to do so, he stretched his distance with Zarco several seconds. Overpowered by the blatant superiority of his adversary, the Pramac pilot finally gave in. 

He could not get any closer to the leader despite squeezing all of the juice out of his Ducati. The #5 knew that it was better to finish second than to crash out.  

https://twitter.com/DAZN_ES/status/1538504400905412611

Thrilling battle for third place

With the winner decided, all of the excitement now moved to the battle for third place at the German MotoGP 2022. It was then that an extraordinary Jack Miller, having done his long lap penalty, came out of nowhere and threw himself to Aleix Espargaro.

There was a vibrant chase for a couple of laps. Blows were exchanged between the two titans. With just five laps to go, the Australian devoured the Spaniard with a spectacular manoeuvre.  

The Catalan pilot tried to take back his position to no avail.  By then, Quartararo, unbeatable since the start of the European leg of the World Championship, had already claimed his third win of the season and fifth podium of the last six races since Portugal.