German MotoGP: Bastianini “expects Marc Marquez to be the man to beat”

Marc Marquez may not have won a MotoGP race since 2021, but his peerless Sachsenring record means Enea Bastianini ‘expects’ the Spaniard to be the man to beat this weekend.

Marquez and Bastianini are battling over third in the world championship, behind Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.

Podiums for Bastianini in the last two rounds mean he has closed to just six points behind the Gresini rider, who will take over his factory Ducati seat in 2025.

But with Marquez unbeaten in a Sunday grand prix at the Sachsenring since the 125cc class in 2009 - albeit having missed the 2022 and 2023 GPs due to injury - Bastianini predicts a tough fight to take points off Marquez this weekend.

"If we look at the statistics, Sachsenring is a track where Marc Márquez has always been fast, so I expect him to be the man to beat this weekend,” said Bastianini, who finished eighth in last year’s German MotoGP.

“In any case, I am confident: our basic setup is working well almost everywhere, and we come from two positive Grands Prix. I am convinced that we can do well in Germany as well. We will give it our all as always!"

Team-mate Bagnaia narrowly lost out to Jorge Martin in last year’s German Sprint and Grand Prix races.

But if he can continue his current win streak, it could put Bagnaia back into the title lead heading into the summer break, with the Pramac rider now just 10 points ahead of the reigning double champion.

"This weekend will be the last before the summer break, and I hope to close this first part of the season in the best possible way,” Bagnaia said. “We are coming off three very positive weekends, where we only missed the win in the Barcelona Sprint, and in Holland, everything was perfect.

“Last year in Germany, Martín was really strong, but we also managed to be more competitive on Sunday. Now, we have to stay focused. We have all the potential to continue doing well, and if we work as we have done so far, I'm sure we will be able to do well this weekend, too."