Marquez makes it nine wins from nine after hectic race start

Marquez leads. He is simply superior

The start of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland MotoGP contest was disrupted by pre-race rain, with race winner Marc Marquez and podium finishers Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo all getting away from pit lane.

From third on the grid Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) started alone towards the front on slick tires and led the early laps after rain in the race build up caused confusion as to which tires would work best. With the track drying quickly much of the rest of the field changed from wet set-up to dry after the final Warm Up lap, meaning they had to start from pit lane.

Bradl’s bike set-up appeared to let him down with slicks hurriedly fitted to a previously wet set-up bike on the grid. He eventually dropped to 16th place in his home race.

Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was in imperious form once again to make it nine wins from nine, cutting through the pack in a chaotic first few laps and eventually pulling clear at the front with teammate Pedrosa, who would ultimately cross the line 1.5s behind him. A further nine seconds back Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) made a welcome return to the podium before the summer break.

Fans salute Marc Marquez

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) rode a lonely race to fourth place, a further nine seconds behind Lorenzo, with the top five completed by the impressive Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) as the top Ducati-equipped rider.

Brothers Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) were sixth and seventh respectively, as they both continued their good 2014 form.

The top ten was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team).

A difficult weekend for Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) ended with a 19th place finish after an early crash – his fifth of the visit to Germany. Meanwhile on lap 19 Michael Laverty (Paul Bird Motorsport) crashed out, fortunately avoiding any serious injury.

Results