# 1991 German motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1991 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixth round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 24–26 May 1991 at the Hockenheim circuit. This was the first motorcycle racing in Germany after the German reunification

## 500 cc race report

Mick Doohan was on pole, Wayne Rainey was 1 second back in 4th, with Eddie Lawson on the front row again on the ever-improving Cagiva.
Doohan took the lead at the start ahead from Rainey, Eddie Lawson and John Kocinski. Doohan and Rainey developed a small gap to Kevin Schwantz, Lawson and Wayne Gardner. In the stadium section, Rainey tried to go through the inside of Doohan, but going off the racing line proved too slippery and he had to sit-up and got Schwantz on his back wheel.
Rainey recovered his rhythm and passed Doohan, but Schwantz was closing. Kocinski crashed out. Doohan re-took the lead of the trio with Rainey and Schwantz.
Another Rainey/Doohan battle ended inconclusively when Rainey came alongside Doohan and pointed to Doohan’s back tire which was shedding chunks. Going into the stadium section, Schwantz took the lead and Doohan started dropping back.
Last lap: Rainey was in front of Schwantz. Schwantz stayed behind Rainey through the first chicane, trying to build momentum for a draft pass. He managed it and took the lead from Rainey.
It looked like Schwantz has made a tactical error, letting Rainey draft him on the last straight that leads into the stadium section. Rainey draft passed and prepared for the right turn, but Schwantz swung out from behind and performs a spectacular late-braking pass—the RGV was squirming from side-to-side and the back tire was hopping up and down leaving a dashed black line of rubber. Schwantz got it under control and made the turn, but Rainey wasn't giving up and tried to stay on Schwantz’ left as they headed to a left turn, but Schwantz had better drive coming out of the previous turn and got in front of Rainey and stayed there to the line.
After the race Rainey commentated: “... I thought I was pretty lucky that we beat Doohan there when he had a problem. That’s who I was racing for the championship.”

## 500 cc classification

| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Kevin Schwantz | Lucky Strike Suzuki | Suzuki | 18 | +36:20.491 | 2 | 20 |
| 2 | Wayne Rainey | Marlboro Team Roberts | Yamaha | 18 | +0.016 | 4 | 17 |
| 3 | Mick Doohan | Rothmans Honda Team | Honda | 18 | +8.944 | 1 | 15 |
| 4 | Eddie Lawson | Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | 18 | +11.568 | 3 | 13 |
| 5 | Wayne Gardner | Rothmans Honda Team | Honda | 18 | +25.500 | 6 | 11 |
| 6 | Didier de Radiguès | Lucky Strike Suzuki | Suzuki | 18 | +1:00.264 | 7 | 10 |
| 7 | Juan Garriga | Ducados Yamaha | Yamaha | 18 | +1:11.175 | 8 | 9 |
| 8 | Adrien Morillas | Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1 | Yamaha | 18 | +1:24.711 | 12 | 8 |
| 9 | Doug Chandler | Roberts B Team | Yamaha | 18 | +1:41.466 | 10 | 7 |
| 10 | Eddie Laycock | Millar Racing | Yamaha | 17 | +1 lap | 13 | 6 |
| 11 | Cees Doorakkers | HEK-Baumachines | Honda | 17 | +1 lap | 14 | 5 |
| 12 | Michael Rudroff | Rallye Sport | Honda | 17 | +1 lap | 15 | 4 |
| 13 | Hans Becker | Team Romero Racing | Yamaha | 17 | +1 lap | | 3 |
| 14 | Simon Buckmaster | Padgett's Racing Team | Suzuki | 17 | +1 lap | | 2 |
| Ret | John Kocinski | Marlboro Team Roberts | Yamaha | 8 | Retired | 5 | |
| DNS | Jean-Philippe Ruggia | Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1 | Yamaha | | Did not start | 9 | |
| DNS | Alex Barros | Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | | Did not start | 11 | |
| DNQ | Josef Doppler | Doppler Racing | Honda | | Did not qualify | | |
| DNQ | Helmut Schutz | Rallye Sport | Honda | | Did not qualify | | |
| DNQ | Niggi Schmassman | Schmassman Technotron | Honda | | Did not qualify | | |
| DNQ | Martin Trösch | MT Racing | Honda | | Did not qualify | | |

## 250 cc classification

| Pos | Rider | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Helmut Bradl | Honda | 15 | 31:59.456 | 1 | 20 |
| 2 | Carlos Cardús | Honda | 15 | +13.517 | 5 | 17 |
| 3 | Wilco Zeelenberg | Honda | 15 | +14.034 | 3 | 15 |
| 4 | Luca Cadalora | Honda | 15 | +23.707 | 9 | 13 |
| 5 | Masahiro Shimizu | Honda | 15 | +43.569 | 7 | 11 |
| 6 | Andreas Preining | Aprilia | 15 | +43.756 | 6 | 10 |
| 7 | Àlex Crivillé | JJ Cobas | 15 | +43.825 | 12 | 9 |
| 8 | Jochen Schmid | Honda | 15 | +43.960 | 8 | 8 |
| 9 | Martin Wimmer | Suzuki | 15 | +44.219 | 10 | 7 |
| 10 | Stefan Prein | Honda | 15 | +44.585 | 11 | 6 |
| 11 | Paolo Casoli | Yamaha | 15 | +45.081 | 13 | 5 |
| 12 | Harald Eckl | Aprilia | 15 | +47.530 | 14 | 4 |
| 13 | Doriano Romboni | Honda | 15 | +50.256 | 15 | 3 |
| 14 | Jean-Pierre Jeandat | Honda | 15 | +59.494 | | 2 |
| 15 | Carlos Lavado | Yamaha | 15 | +1:04.087 | | 1 |
| 16 | Dominique Sarron | Yamaha | 15 | +1:21.210 | | |
| 17 | Bernd Kassner | Yamaha | 15 | +1:21.432 | | |
| 18 | Fausto Ricci | Yamaha | 15 | +1:46.045 | | |
| 19 | Patrick van der Goorbergh | Yamaha | 15 | +1:50.704 | | |
| 20 | Kevin Mitchell | Yamaha | 15 | +1:50.882 | | |
| 21 | Jean Foray | Yamaha | 15 | +1:50.946 | | |
| 22 | Marcellino Lucchi | Aprilia | 15 | +1:53.122 | | |
| 23 | Wayne Doran | Aprilia | 15 | +1:58.967 | | |
| 24 | Ian Newton | Yamaha | 15 | +2:09.344 | | |
| 25 | Peter Linden | Honda | 14 | +1 lap | | |
| Ret | Corrado Catalano | Honda | 8 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Bernard Hänggeli | Aprilia | 7 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Pierfrancesco Chili | Aprilia | 6 | Retired | 2 | |
| Ret | Loris Reggiani | Aprilia | 4 | Retired | 4 | |
| Ret | Renzo Colleoni | Aprilia | 3 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Urs Jucker | Yamaha | 3 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Jaime Mariano | Aprilia | 1 | Retired | | |
| DNS | Alberto Puig | Yamaha | | | | |
| DNS | Frédéric Protat | Aprilia | | | | |
| DNS | Leon van der Heyden | Honda | | | | |
| DNS | Erkka Korpiaho | Aprilia | | | | |
| DNS | Stefano Pennese | Aprilia | | | | |

## 125 cc classification

| Pos | Rider | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Ralf Waldmann | Honda | 14 | 33:12.041 | 6 | 20 |
| 2 | Loris Capirossi | Honda | 14 | +0.288 | 1 | 17 |
| 3 | Heinz Lüthi | Honda | 14 | +1.343 | 5 | 15 |
| 4 | Gabriele Debbia | Aprilia | 14 | +1.549 | 8 | 13 |
| 5 | Alessandro Gramigni | Aprilia | 14 | +1.558 | 10 | 11 |
| 6 | Jorge Martínez | JJ Cobas | 14 | +3.893 | | 10 |
| 7 | Alfred Waibel | Honda | 14 | +4.395 | 12 | 9 |
| 8 | Dirk Raudies | Honda | 14 | +4.503 | 3 | 8 |
| 9 | Nobuyuki Wakai | Honda | 14 | +22.679 | 14 | 7 |
| 10 | Kazuto Sakata | Honda | 14 | +22.682 | 4 | 6 |
| 11 | Luis Alvaro | Derbi | 14 | +22.958 | 13 | 5 |
| 12 | Hans Spaan | Honda | 14 | +34.926 | 9 | 4 |
| 13 | Maurizio Vitali | Gazzaniga | 14 | +38.459 | | 3 |
| 14 | Kinya Wada | Honda | 14 | +38.754 | | 2 |
| 15 | Johnny Wickström | Honda | 14 | +38.857 | | 1 |
| 16 | Stefan Kurfiss | Honda | 14 | +39.281 | | |
| 17 | Hisashi Unemoto | Honda | 14 | +39.536 | | |
| 18 | Herri Torrontegui | JJ Cobas | 14 | +39.544 | | |
| 19 | Thierry Feuz | Honda | 14 | +40.116 | | |
| 20 | Jos van Dongen | Honda | 14 | +40.286 | | |
| 21 | Stefan Brägger | Honda | 14 | +40.344 | | |
| 22 | Arie Molenaar | Honda | 14 | +41.113 | | |
| 23 | Gimmi Bosio | Honda | 14 | +41.381 | | |
| 24 | Wolfgang Fritz | Honda | 14 | +58.364 | | |
| 25 | Hans Koopman | Honda | 14 | +58.653 | | |
| 26 | René Dünki | Honda | 14 | +58.659 | | |
| 27 | Ian McConnachie | Honda | 14 | +1:35.943 | | |
| Ret | Adolf Stadler | JJ Cobas | 12 | Retired | 7 | |
| Ret | Fausto Gresini | Honda | 12 | Retired | 2 | |
| Ret | Manuel Herreros | JJ Cobas | 10 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Robin Appleyard | Honda | 10 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Emilio Cuppini | Gazzaniga | 8 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Francisco Debon | JJ Cobas | 7 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Bruno Casanova | Honda | 4 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Julián Miralles | JJ Cobas | 1 | Retired | | |
| Ret | Peter Öttl | Rotax | 0 | Retired | 11 | |
| DNS | Ezio Gianola | Derbi | | | 15 | |
| DNS | Koji Takada | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Steve Patrickson | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Alain Bronec | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Peter Galvin | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Manuel Hernández | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Olivier Petrucciani | Aprilia | | | | |
| DNQ | Serafino Foti | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Alan Patterson | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Hubert Abold | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Jean-Claude Selini | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Thomas Engl | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Phillip Unhola | Honda | | | | |
| DNQ | Taru Rinne | Honda | | | | |

## Sidecar classification

| Pos | Rider | Passenger | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Ralph Bohnhorst | Bruno Hiller | Bohnhorst | 14 | 30:56.749 | 2 | 20 |
| 2 | Alain Michel | Simon Birchall | Krauser | 14 | +0.241 | 4 | 17 |
| 3 | Rolf Biland | Kurt Waltisperg | LCR-ADM | 14 | +2.427 | 5 | 15 |
| 4 | Egbert Streuer | Peter Essaff | LCR-Yamaha | 14 | +10.363 | 3 | 13 |
| 5 | Barry Brindley | Trevor Hopkinson | LCR-Yamaha | 14 | +10.989 | 11 | 11 |
| 6 | Steve Abbott | Shaun Smith | LCR-Krauser | 14 | +11.214 | | 10 |
| 7 | Markus Egloff | Urs Egloff | Yamaha | 14 | +11.629 | 9 | 9 |
| 8 | Darren Dixon | Sean Dixon | LCR-Krauser | 14 | +11.722 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | Yoshisada Kumagaya | Bryan Houghton | Krauser | 14 | +19.850 | 14 | 7 |
| 10 | Masato Kumano | Eckhart Rösinger | LCR-Yamaha | 14 | +28.059 | 10 | 6 |
| 11 | Klaus Klaffenböck | Christian Parzer | LCR | 14 | +28.533 | 12 | 5 |
| 12 | Theo van Kempen | Jan Kuyt | LCR-Krauser | 14 | +55.021 | | 4 |
| 13 | Werner Kraus | Thomas Schröder | ADM | 14 | +1:11.940 | 15 | 3 |
| 14 | Barry Smith | David Smith | Windle-ADM | 14 | +1:12.437 | | 2 |
| 15 | Ivan Nigrowsky | Nicolas Barillon | LCR | 14 | +1:13.169 | | 1 |
| 16 | Gary Thomas | Michel van Puyvelde | Krauser | 14 | +1:35.782 | | |
| 17 | Tony Baker | Simon Prior | LCR-Krauser | 13 | +1 lap | | |
| 18 | Alfred Zurbrügg | Martin Zurbrügg | LCR-Yamaha | 1 | +3 laps | 13 | |
| Ret | Paul Güdel | Charly Güdel | LCR-Krauser | 13 | Retired | 6 | |
| Ret | Steve Webster | Gavin Simmons | Krauser | 9 | Retired | 1 | |
| Ret | Tony Wyssen | Killian Wyssen | LCR-Krauser | 3 | Retired | 8 | |
| Ret | René Progin | Gary Irlam | LCR | 1 | Retired | | |
| DNQ | Markus Bösiger | Peter Markwalder | ADM | | | | |
| Ret | Mark Reddington | Robert Parker | Krauser | | | | |
| DNQ | Jos van Stekelenburg | Rinie Bettgens | LCR | | | | |
| DNQ | Hans Hügli | Adolf Hänni | LCR | | | | |
| DNQ | Frank Voigt | Holger Voigt | Schuh-Spezial | | | | |
| DNQ | Reiner Kosta | Jurg Egli | Yamaha | | | | |
| DNQ | Bernd Scherer | Peter Höss | LCR | | | | |