It is hard to think of a bigger contrast. In the middle of a run of fast, sweeping, glorious tracks we head to the tightest, twistiest, gnarliest circuit on the calendar. Mugello sprawls over two sides of a Tuscan valley. Assen stretches the length of former fenland. And Brno climbs and dives through the hillside of a Czech forest. Three tracks where speed is everything.
And in the middle? A tiny ribbon of tarmac wrapped around on itself and squeezed inside an East German industrial park, packed on three sides by car dealers, tire warehouses, and a factory that makes wooden fences and balconies, and on the other the start of fields stretching into the distance. The Sachsenring is just long enough to make it onto the grand prix calendar, and a track where the bikes barely get out of fifth gear.
On the other hand, The German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring is an event to rival Mugello, Assen, Brno, even Le Mans. Somehow, they squeeze close to 100,000 passionate fans into a space not much bigger than a parking lot. The Sachsenring, Hohenstein-Ernstthal, and this part of Saxony has long been the home of racing and motorcycle culture in East Germany – indeed, in all of Germany. And the event reflects that.
Packing them in
If anything, the attendance at the Sachsenring was always understated in the past. Such is the location of the circuit, on the edge of an industrial park, that a nearby auto dealer would build grandstands in his lot, and sell some of the best seats in the house to enthusiastic fans. They came to an arrangement after the circuit threatened to erect screens in front of the stands, and now that grandstand counts toward the official crowd figures.
But anyone who has ever been to the Sachsenring can tell you the crowd numbers are real. The fans throng through the streets of Hohenstein-Ernstthal, camp all the way up the hillside and into the town, and turn the area into a festival. It is a real experience.
And as tight as the track is, and as unsuited to hosting MotoGP machines, it still creates a massive challenge for the riders. Starting up the hill onto the only relatively level part of the circuit, the front straight, the riders shift quickly up through the gears before one of the few hard braking zones on the circuit, Turn 1.
An ideal overtaking spot, it is one of just three right-hand corners on the circuit, and as a consequence, needs to be treated with a modicum of care, as you have to be sure there is some heat in the right side of the front tire. Turn 1 is responsible for over 40% of crashes at the Sachsenring, and needs to be treated with respect.
After quickly flicking left through Turn 2, the track dips down slightly into the second right hander, and the longest of them all. It is named the Omega Curve for a reason, it loops back on itself by getting on for 270°, riders managing the bike with throttle and the gentlest touch of brake.
Wrestling the bike left again as you exit the Omega, Turn 4 begins a long sequence of lefts where you are barely off the edge of the tire. The track rises slightly through Turn 5, dips again through Turns 6 before Turn 7 and then the briefest straight line where you can pick the bike up onto the fatter part of the tire and hold the gas open for a fraction longer.
You gain enough speed up the hill to need to brake again before Turn 8, scrubbing off speed to lay the bike on its left side again, and clicking down a gear for the corner. Out of 8 and there is room for a little more throttle again, and back up a gear as you climb to the top of the circuit.
Here you enter one of the toughest and scariest parts of the track. For a circuit so often described as a go-kart track, Turns 10 and 11, instill a healthy amount of fear into the riders. The challenge is to scrub just enough speed going through the left of Turn 10 to control the bike and not allow it to get too light over the crest. Through 10, you carefully wind on the gas as you throw the bike right, for the fastest corner on the circuit, the fearsome Turn 11, and head down what has become known as the Waterfall.
What makes Turns 10 and 11 so difficult is a combination of speed, elevation change, and tires. You need to attack Turn 11 to maximize speed through there, but it needs to be attacked as delicately as possible. There’s a fine line between maximizing speed and overpowering the tires, and a long and painful slide through the gravel at Turn 11.
Handle with care
You want a bit of acceleration over the crest at Turn 10, but not so much your front isn’t planted when you flick the bike onto its right side. You want to get on the gas as early as possible and power through Turn 11, but you don’t want to use too much throttle and lose the rear. Turn 1 may be where the most crashes happen, but Turn 11 is where riders hurt themselves. Collarbones, wrists, ankles, the gravel trap at the Waterfall has claimed them all. As well as millions and millions of euros worth of spares.
Why is Turn 11 so important? Because it is where you line up the best place for making a pass. The tight left of Turn 12 at the bottom of the hill is the easiest route past your rivals. Get the drive out of Turn 11 and you can dive up the inside of the rider ahead into 12 to snatch their spot and force them to brake.
Even then, all is not lost. The short run between Turn 12 and the final corner is just enough space to try to squeeze ahead and reclaim a lost position, though it is only really for those nothing-left-to-lose last lap passes. Because it is easy to run wide on the exit of Turn 13 and lose the short drag to the line, meaning all your hard work goes for naught.
Márquez Land
We are turning left, and so we are entering Marc Márquez territory. The Ducati Lenovo rider has 11 wins here to his name, including 8 in MotoGP. All those were on a Repsol Honda, in variants between the best bike on the grid to one of the worst, and all stations in between. The bike didn’t matter much, and we got used to turning up knowing who was going to win.
That streak ended in 2021, however. In 2022, Márquez was absent as he recovered from another surgery on his right arm. In 2023, at what was probably the nadir of his MotoGP career, and arguably the race which gave him the final nudge to leave Honda, he crashed five times, and withdrew from the event on Sunday morning after warm up, not enough fit enough to convince himself he was fit to race.
Last year, Márquez arrived on the Gresini Ducati, with the first glimmer of hope that perhaps he could start to win here again. He was cautiously optimistic, but played down his chances, pointing to Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia’s epic battle for the championship. Rightly so, as it happens, as he crashed on Friday and broke a finger, which hampered him for the rest of the weekend.
Careful now
If Marc Márquez has reason to be cautious this year, it is only not to get carried away by his string of successes. The Ducati Lenovo rider is dominating the 2025 season, with 9 sprint wins and 6 GP victories, and a lead of over 68 points over his brother Alex. Yet he crashed while leading at Austin, the other track he was an automatic favorite to win. And he crashed in the early laps at Jerez, another of his best tracks.
The Sachsenring is a track where a small mistake can have major consequences, as Marc Márquez knows all too well. The only person capable of beating the Ducati Lenovo rider is Márquez himself, so a more cautious approach will be needed.
Especially given the weather forecast for the weekend. Though rain is not unknown at the Sachsenring, it is rare for it to rain throughout. Though Friday looks like being mostly dry – a threat of rain around 4pm, just as practice for the MotoGP class finishes – but Saturday and Sunday look like they could see light rain for much of the day, and especially around race time. Marc Márquez loves mixed conditions, but they are not without risk.
Out of action
So far this year, the rider most capable of challenging Marc Márquez is his brother, Gresini Ducati’s Alex Márquez. But Alex’ luck changed on Sunday in Assen, when a minimal touch with Pedro Acosta had major consequences, the Gresini Ducati rider crashing out and fracturing a metacarpal in his left hand. The Spaniard has had surgery to plate the metacarpal, but with so many long lefts, it is going to be a long and painful weekend for Alex Márquez. His main objective will be just to survive and limit the damage as much as possible, hope to be stronger for Brno.
What of Marc Márquez’ other rival, his teammate Pecco Bagnaia? The Ducati Lenovo rider won here last year, after Jorge Martin crashed out of the lead on the last lap. He was second the year before, and is relatively strong around the Sachsenring circuit. Bagnaia has been making slow progress on finding his feeling with the front of the Ducati GP25, not able to manage the front brake into the corner the way he wants. His team make small steps every race, but it seems unlikely they are close enough to seriously challenge Márquez in Germany.
Of the other Ducatis, it is perhaps Fermín Aldeguer who is best placed to mix things up at the front. The Gresini Ducati rider won here last year in Moto2, and has a strong record here. He is in good form and getting better, and should be able to chase a good result.
Aprilia revival?
Long and flowing corners with only a couple of hard braking spots sounds tailor made for the Aprilias. Coming off two podiums at Assen, Marco Bezzecchi heads into the German GP with some confidence. The bike is improving – aero updates to the rear of the bike helped in braking – and Bezzecchi is fairly well adapted to the RS-GP. Aprilia had a sprint podium here last year, and the 2025 Aprilia is a much better bike than the 2024 version.
The two Trackhouse riders will be worth watching as well. Ai Ogura’s injured knee is better, and he is able to bend it much more than at Assen, giving him a chance to figure out a track he struggled with in Moto2. Raul Fernandez seems to have turned a corner over the last few races, putting together better and better weekends, more consistently competitive at each round. It is probably a little early for real success, but Fernandez’ season is moving in the right direction again.
The blues are back?
The track layout should also suit the Yamahas, with lots of turning and horsepower almost an irrelevance. The bike is stable in the corners, which is a huge benefit, and electronics updates have helped here a lot. The lack of rear grip in acceleration is less of a problem, as there is not all that much hard acceleration to speak of here.
Fabio Quartararo has a victory here in 2022, and another podium the year before. He has always qualified well – always important at a track as tight as the Sachsenring – and this year’s bike is much better than the year before. This is a chance to take the fight to the front runners, and get back on the podium, though it is tough.
While Monster Energy Yamaha teammate Alex Rins has struggled at the Sachsenring, the two Pramac Yamaha riders have a solid history here. Jack Miller had a podium in 2022, while teammate Miguel Oliveira took second in 2022. Both are in search of rides for next season (despite Oliveira having a two-year deal, the second year depends on results) and the last two races before the summer break are an ideal time to get the results that can seal a potential deal.
Oliveira is the author KTM’s only success at the Sachsenring, the long corners not really playing to the strengths of the RC16. But we said that about Assen too, and the KTMs did well there, Pedro Acosta finishing fourth ahead of Maverick Viñales. Viñales has been strong here in the past, with a brace of podiums with Yamaha, and in the battle for the podium on an Aprilia in 2022 before a technical issue forced him out.
Brad Binder crashed out of a podium position in 2023, and is another rider in need of results. So far, the South African has been outclassed by both his rookie teammate and Maverick Viñales on the Tech3 KTM, as he struggles to contain his naturally aggressive style to cope with the demands for smoothness imposed by the 2025 KTM. Binder’s future is far from clear, with rumors he has been dipping his toe into the WorldSBK paddock. So a good result here would make a world of difference.
Hope for Honda?
Finally, to Honda, the manufacturer who used to dominate at the Sachsenring. That, of course, was largely down to Marc Márquez, who was unbeatable around the German circuit. What can the 2025 version of the RC213V do?
If there are hopes for HRC at the Sachsenring, they surely lie with Johann Zarco. The LCR Honda rider has a couple of podiums here, though that was on a Ducati. Zarco leads the way in the championship as well, with a 63-point advantage over the next Honda rider, Luca Marini. The Honda lacks rear grip and horsepower, two elements which are less important at the Sachsenring, but the bike does have a fantastic front end. Being able to enter corners like Turn 1, Turn 11, Turn 12 with confidence and brake deep and late could allow Zarco to pull off a surprise.
The factory riders are likely in for a tougher time. Luca Marini is just back from injury, the collapsed lung he suffered in a testing crash at Suzuka putting him out of action for the last three rounds. Joan Mir’s record at the Sachsenring is modest, and despite a more competitive bike, the Spaniard has a penchant for crashes, finishing just four of the first ten GPs so far. Crossing the finish line is likely his first objective at the Sachsenring.
Are we in for yet another crushing performance from the King of the ‘Ring? It is hard to see how the weekend of the German GP finishes any other way. The track suits him, the weather forecast promising tricky conditions suits him, and he is on a bike that he now fully understands and controls. The only rider who can beat Marc Márquez is Marc Márquez. Let’s see which Marc Márquez will win.
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