It’s two wins in the last three for Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – R.O.M.E.A – MSI) after the Spaniard dug deep to fend off the challenge of compatriot Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO Azul Marino Aspar Team) in an intense Sachsenring battle. It’s important points gained for third place Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2), while World Championship pacesetter Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) is forced to settle for P6 in a race which also saw David Alonso (CFMOTO Azul Marino Aspar Team) crash out of P4.
Ortola got the jump off the line he would have wanted; it was the holeshot for the polesitter, as Guevara held onto P2 by hanging it around the outside of Gonzalez at Turn 1. It wasn’t the opening lap the championship leader would have wanted because by the end of it, he was shuffled down to P5 behind Holgado and teammate Senna Agius, and then at Turn 1 on Lap 2, Alonso had a bite at the cherry too to climb into P5.
At the start of Lap 8, it was pretty much as you were at the front. Ortola led from Holgado, who had passed Guevara a couple of laps prior, with Agius and Alonso keeping their powder dry in P4 and P5. Gonzalez was 0.9s away from Alonso’s rear wheel in P6, with the top six split by a couple of seconds.
On Lap 17 of 25, Alonso was the first to make a move for quite some time. The Colombian carved up the inside of Agius at Turn 1 to jump into P4, but on the next lap at Turn 3, Alonso’s podium hopes ended with a highside. The Dutch GP winner lit up the rear, the bike chucked him off and out of the race, but thankfully Alonso was up on his feet and OK – but that’s a hammer blow to the #80’s title charge.
With four laps to go, it looked like it was Ortola vs Holgado for victory. Guevara’s pace was dropping off in P3, the gap now 1.3s to Holgado, with Agius and Gonzalez unable to get themselves into the podium equation. Instead, rookie Taiyo Furusato (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) was reeling in two of our 2026 race winners.
Right, two to go. Ortola vs Holgado. The latter was piling on the pressure, but no move came on the penultimate lap. Would it come on the last lap though? The duo were on the absolute limit, crying out for a bit of rear grip, and in the end, Ortola managed to fend off Holgado, who couldn’t hook up a move at the final corner.
Guevara was a lonely P3 in the end to pick up 16 crucial points in the championship, as Agius clinched P4 – but only just. A phenomenal final few laps from Furusato saw the Japanese star pass World Championship leader Gonzalez and then finish just 0.059s behind Agius to collect his best Moto2 result to date. Gonzalez, meanwhile, pocketed his worst result of the season in P6. Both he and Agius’ pace in the closing stages dropped off a cliff, and while Gonzalez remains the dominant championship leader heading into the summer, it’s a small number of points lost in Germany.
Filip Salač (OnlyFans American Racing Team) was just 0.2s away from Gonzalez in P7, with the Czech rider leading home Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jose Antonio Rueda and Collin Veijer in P8 and P9, with rookie Luca Lunetta (MB Conveyors SpeedRS Team) picking up his second top 10 of the season in P10.
Gonzalez now heads to Silverstone with a 51.5-point lead over Guevara, as we look forward to the Moto2 title fight reigniting in the UK.