On the second row of the grid is Tohru Ukawa in fifth, teammate Valentino Rossi in sixth, Jeremy McWilliams in seventh and Garry McCoy in eighth.

[3] Akira Ryō enters as a wildcard for this race,[4] José Luis Cardoso replaces Pere Riba who is still rehabilitating from a fracture on his left tibia after a fall during Saturday practice at the British round,[5] Yukio Kagayama replaces Kenny Roberts Jr. who is still recovering from a surgery on his right arm[6] and John Hopkins does not participate in the race after a crash at the final practice session caused him to injure his left hand and required surgery to be fixed.

Rossi meanwhile did not have a good start, losing three places and finding himself stuck down in ninth behind Daijiro Kato at sector one on the opening lap.

At the Sachsen Kurve (Turn 13), Rossi easily goes up the inside of Kato and takes eighth place, the airhorns blasting as he does so.

At the start/finish straight, he loses another position to Abe, who overtakes both McWilliams and Biaggi to move up into fifth spot entering the Coca-Cola Kurve.

Behind them, Kato makes a late lunge and overtakes Rossi around the outside heading into the Coca-Cola Kurve and entering Turn 2 for eighth.

Ukawa and Barros have now opened up a gap to the Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha duo of Jacque and Nakano in third and fourth.

On lap four, Biaggi blasts past McWilliams on the start/finish straight, the Englishman then retaking the position by outbraking him going into the Coca-Cola Kurve.

Turning the bike, he has a slight moment, forcing Biaggi wide and opening the door for Rossi to take seventh as he also tries and succeeds in making a move.

Jacque has by now slowly caught up to the fighting duo of Ukawa and Barros to make it a three-way battle for the lead.

Barros goes up the inside of Jacque to take second entering Turn 12, with both Rossi and Biaggi making a pass on Nakano and Abe for fourth and sixth place at the Sachsen Kurve.

Lap nine and Biaggi tries to pass Ukawa as he brakes earlier at the start/finish straight, pushing him wide at the Coca-Cola Kurve.

Exiting Turn 12, Rossi has to brake a little as the power difference of his four-stroke almost causes him to crash into the back of Jacque's two-stroke, thus not being able to overtake the Frenchman for now.

Kato lies injured on the grass, the marshalls and Kagayama helping him out as another one removes his bike from the gravel and yet another one assists Gibernau.

Lap fifteen - the halfway point of the race - and Biaggi easily passes Rossi on the start/finish straight for third position, 'The Doctor' waving at him as a signal to get by.

At the straight before the entrance of the Sachsen Kurve, Ukawa tries to pass Biaggi - who has a bad exit - for fourth but fails and stays behind.

Lap nineteen and Rossi finally makes his move on Jacque at the start/finish straight, going up his inside and taking second from him at the Coca-Cola Kurve.

At the exit of Turn 12, Rossi then blasts past Barros on the outside, taking over the lead of the race entering the Sachsen Kurve.

At Turns 11 and 12, Barros closes up on Rossi but the Italian manages to ride away on the straight, the difference between the two and four-strokes being very obvious there.

Lap twenty-one and Jacque now overtakes Barros at the start/finish straight for second spot, going up his inside and outbraking him at the Coca-Cola Kurve.

On lap twenty-four, Jacque tries to take a tighter line at Karthallen (Turn 8) but still isn't able to get past Rossi.

Lap twenty-seven and Barros tries to line up a pass at the entrance of the Sachsen Kurve, not being able to and choosing to stay behind for the time being.

He has a minor moment exiting Turn 12 as Nakano dives down the inside of Abe at the Sachsen Kurve to take fifth spot.

The riders make their way onto the podium, the first one to appear being Ukawa, then a happy Biaggi and a delighted Rossi, the fans cheering loudly as he shows up and screaming "Vale!

The important figures hand out the trophies - first to Ukawa, then to Biaggi and eventually Rossi, the Italian kissing and raising it up as a sign of victory as the fans cheer and sing.