Red Bull Rookies/Sachsenring: Red flag after crash, P3 for Kratochwil

At his home race as part of the MotoGP series at the Sachsenring, 15-year-old Fynn Kratochwil from Thuringia started from pole position on Sunday, just as he had done on Saturday. And the fans at the Sachsenring once again showed their wonderfully crazy side, with most of them staying in their seats even after the races featuring Marquez and co. to cheer on the young riders.

Fynn Kratochwil once again had his coach, manager and mechanic, Dirk Heidolf, by his side. The man from Hohenstein-Ernstthal had been forced to watch his protégé’s races at Assen from afar, as Heidolf had injured himself during a joint motocross training session. Just in time for the home race, Heidolf was back in action. There were also warm words from former world champion and ex-Marquez manager Emilio Alzamora.

Fynn Kratochwil takes the lead

After the start, Kratochwil – who usually prefers to stay in the background – boldly took the lead. He was joined by the Indian rider Kindra Ramadhipa and the Spaniard Benat Fernandez. However, as always, the field of Red Bull Rookies was overwhelmingly large, with constant position changes from front to back. Archi Schmidt crashed on the third lap. After leading for a few kilometres, Kratochwil had settled into the chasing pack, leaving the lead to Kindra Ramadhipa, the Frenchman Guillem Planques and David Gonzalez. They set a brisker pace than they had the previous day.

At the start of the fifth lap, Kristian Daniels went off onto the grass. Shortly afterwards, the previous day’s winner crashed. Ryota Ogiwara hit the gravel hard but was able to get away unaided. Mateo Marulanda was also forced out of the race following a crash. Kratochwil found himself in third place in the provisional standings behind Ramadhipa and Gonzalez, but half a dozen rookies were lurking behind him, waiting for their chance to attack.

Red flag ends the race

For the next few laps, a period of near-calm descended upon the wild rookies, as everyone prepared for the final attack. It was all over for Travis Borg from Malta; his KTM broke down. Kratochwil defended his third place, whilst there were one or more collisions happening around him. On the 15th of 19 laps, championship leader Benat Fernandez and Fernando Bujosa crashed in Turn 2; there was another yellow-flag period, which after a few moments led to the race being stopped with the red flag.

Topic of the week

From major doubts to a major spectacle: why GP fans have reason to be delighted

Before the start of the season, critical voices dominated, but the World Championship rounds so far have shown that the rule changes are delivering exactly what was hoped for: excitement right up to the final lap.

Vanessa Georgoulas

Read more

The race was not restarted. Victory went to Kindra Ramadhipa, second place was taken by Yarolsav Karpushin, and Fynn Kratochwil was delighted to finish third, making a point of thanking the numerous fans lining the track first and foremost. “In the end, a bit of luck is part of it too,” the teenager acknowledged.

Ramadhipa #32 auf dem Weg zum Sieg

Foto: Thomas Seidenglanz