MotoGP qualifying results as Marc Marquez scores German Grand Prix pole after Marco Bezzecchi crash

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Ducati rider Marc Marquez scored pole position for the 2026 MotoGP German Grand Prix on Saturday, as Aprilia star Marco Bezzecchi had a huge crash at the Sachsenring.

Gresini ace Alex Marquez carried the momentum into qualifying for the German GP, after he set the pace during the final practice session at the Sachsenring earlier on Saturday. Ducati’s Marc Marquez also finished FP2 down in P5, despite having been in a class of one on Friday.

But despite having a slower start to Saturday, normal service resumed in qualifying, as Marc Marquez set the initial benchmark pace in Q2 with a 1:19.567. Yet the Spaniard did not stay first for long, as VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio moved his Ducati GP26 to P1 with a 1:19.512.

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Even Di Giannantonio did not stay first for long, either, as Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse and Gresini racer Alex Marquez soon rose to the top of the order. Fernandez’s 1:19.262 was also too much for Marc Marquez to match, as he only got within 0.089s with his second fast run.

READ MORE: How to watch the 2026 German Grand Prix, plus the Sachsenring forecast

Aprilia duo Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin had initially taken the fight to Marc Marquez, with the pair slotting in behind the Spaniard after their first runs. But Aprilia’s attention was soon turning to Bezzecchi’s fitness, after he seemed to hurt his hand after a crash at Turn 7.

Bezzecchi brought out the yellow flags at Turn 7 as he lay in the gravel after high-siding off his Aprilia RS-GP the moment that he touched the throttle. The incident sent Bezzecchi into a violent roll through the gravel before he gingerly returned to the Aprilia garage soon after.

Aprilia’s hopes for pole position at the German GP thus seemed to be with Trackhouse star Fernandez, with Martin unable to improve his early pace through the middle of the session. But the Ducati GP26 riders soon took over, with Di Giannantonio the first to lower the pace.

Marc Marquez adopted an unusual three-run strategy for qualifying for the German GP, and the seven-time champion made full use of it to lower the pace to a 1:19.041. Alex Marquez got within 0.061s of his elder brother’s lap, yet Marc made the difference in the final sector.

Ducati star Marc Marquez even adopted the even more unusual strategy of switching bikes in the middle of qualifying for the German GP. Yet jumping onto his B-bike still delivered for the Spaniard, while his teammate Francesco Bagnaia qualified 0.712s off the pace in P11.

Marc Marquez takes pole, but who was your star of qualifying at the German Grand Prix?

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Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo advance from Q1 in qualifying for the German Grand Prix

The first stage of qualifying for the German Grand Prix featured a few riders who would have felt they could have secured automatic Q2 spots during the timed practice session on Friday. Ducati ace Francesco Bagnaia certainly kicked off qualifying like a rider with a point to prove.

Bagnaia immediately set the early benchmark pace in Q1 at the Sachsenring with a 1:19.954 lap, as the two-time MotoGP champion aggressively hustled his Ducati Desmosedici GP26 to the top of the order. Honda’s Joan Mir also started well, to sit P2 at the mid-session lull.

The promise that KTM showed in practice did not transfer into qualifying at first, though, as Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales all found themselves two or more tenths of a second down on the early pace that Fabio Quartararo found on his V4 Yamaha YZR-M1.

Bagnaia and Quartararo had not even shown their hands, either, as the Ducati and Yamaha riders further reduced the benchmark pace to start the second runs. Bagnaia improved his pace in almost every sector to set a 1:19.753, before Quartararo rose into P2 on a 1:19.864.

LCR Honda rookie Diogo Moreira looked like he could threaten the top positions, as well, as the Brazilian clung onto Bagnaia’s exhaust. But while Moreira used Bagnaia as a marker and improved in sectors one through three, a slow last sector left him 0.331s off the Italian’s lap.

Factory Honda rider Luca Marini also saw his late heroics fall short of even the lap time that Quartararo set. Marini looked on course to climb into the top two after setting new session-best splits in the second and third sectors, yet his lap fell away at the end like Moreira’s had.

Full 2026 MotoGP German Grand Prix qualifying timesheets at the Sachsenring