Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez has returned to the Sachsenring with the world expecting the Ducati rider to get his ninth MotoGP German Grand Prix victory and 12th across all classes.
The circuit in Saxony is one of the 32-year-old’s strongest venues on the MotoGP calendar, if not the track where Marquez shines the most. His talent through left-hand corners comes to the fore unlike anywhere else at the German GP as only three of the 13 turns go to the right.
Riders are also at full lean to the left from Turn 4 all the way through to the downhill right at T11. It has made the Sachsenring a playground for Marquez, who essentially went unbeaten at the German GP from 2010 until 2023. He did not race there in 2022 or 2023 due to injury.
Even his Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia admits ‘everyone’ expects Marquez to ‘destroy everyone’ at the German GP. The Italian is the only rider to beat the Spaniard on the road at the Sachsenring since Marquez won the 2010 125cc race after they came P1 and P2 in 2024.
Maverick Vinales admits it’s ‘difficult to achieve’ the lap times Marc Marquez manages
KTM Tech3 rider Maverick Vinales even feels Marquez has another arrow in his quiver which could help the six-time MotoGP champion to boost his already 68-point strong lead atop the 2025 standings over his Gresini star brother, Alex Marquez, at the German GP this weekend.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
Vinales believes it is ‘difficult to achieve’ the same lap times that he has seen Marquez set in 2025 since his Spanish compatriot joined Ducati. While the Tech3 rider thinks he is only two-tenths of a second slower on his KTM RC16, it is a bridge that is proving hard to break down.
“We’re two-tenths behind the man who’s winning,” Vinales noted, via quotes by Motosan. “It’s not much, but it’s difficult to achieve those lap times. I was able to do it in Qatar and other races, where I was closer and a tenth away.
“But we’re about two-tenths per lap slower than Marc Marquez, and we need to close that gap. It’s not that much, but we still have something left where, maybe, I can make up for something with my riding style.”
Maverick Vinales must improve his qualifying deficit to Marc Marquez at the German GP
Vinales’ pace deficit to Marquez could prove particularly problematic for the Tech3 rider this week at the German GP. So, the 30-year-old may need to hope that his riding style makes up more than ‘something’ to chase the top spots in qualifying and the races at the Sachsenring.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Maverick Vinales from career stats to net worth
The Figueres native is aware of the challenge that might await him this Saturday and Sunday if he does not qualify well. Vinales fears getting ‘caught out’ in the German GP if he does not start the race from the first two rows of the grid given how tight the corners are at the track.
Vinales only started the Aragon Grand Prix in P8, the Italian GP from P5 and the Dutch GP in P10 across the last three rounds. He was also 0.730 seconds slower than polesitter Marquez at Aragon and 0.345s at Mugello, plus 0.594s at Assen – where the Ducati rider qualified P4.
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