Another win for Marquez at Sachsenring

Marc Marquez charges to yet another win
Marc Marquez charges to yet another win

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) stood on the top step of the podium again at the Pramac Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, but it wasn’t a straight forward victory for the Championship leader.

Looking strictly at the numbers, today Marc took a second consecutive win from pole, his fifth victory this season, his 40th MotoGP success, and his 66th across three classes, extending his Championship lead over Valentino Rossi to 46 points with 10 races remaining. In addition, his ninth win at Sachsenring came after nine consecutive poles here, and in his 99th MotoGP race, at the season’s ninth round.

“Today was an incredible victory," explained Marquez. “You can say ‘oh another victory at Sachsenring’ but it’s not another victory; every year I have more pressure, every year it’s more difficult – especially this year, we had the whole weekend in dry conditions, everybody can prepare for race so well. It was very, very tough. If you look at the lap times, the first 20 laps we were just there in the same tenth. So, it was crucial to be on the same line every lap and we did a really good job."

In a race where tire choice was a major talking point, the number 93 opted for the soft rear compound, incredibly making it last the full 30 laps without a serious drop in performance. “During the race, I tried to manage the tires, this was the first priority," said the Spaniard.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]“I started and was able to push but I said ‘okay, be calm’. I caught Lorenzo and overtook him, I opened a small gap but then I saw Valentino was coming very, very fast. So, then when he was just 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, I said ‘okay, now it’s time to push’ and then, with 4 laps to go, I gave everything. I used the tire and it was my fastest lap of the race and I opened a good gap."

The reigning World Champion now moves 46 points clear of his closest rival in the Championship standings – the number 46 of Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) – after his fifth victory of the season. But he is wary of the two Yamahas getting quicker and wants to rectify the two non-scores he’s already had this season.

“It was important to take this victory before the summer break because we were working very hard this first part of the season," commented the six-time World Champion. “We’ve won many races, but we made two mistakes, two zeroes and we cannot accept this. We need to keep improving because Yamaha riders are very fast. Every time, faster and faster. We’ll see what happens in the second half of the season but, at the moment, time to take a rest and time to prepare the next 10 races."

Next up for Marquez is a trip to the Czech Republic and the Brno circuit, a track he took victory at last season despite the Hondas struggling there every year. “I’m only thinking about the party tonight! Brno will be hard. It’s a racetrack where we struggle every year. For this reason, we did a test before this race to try to be ready for that race weekend. We will see but it looks like Yamaha and Ducati are getting stronger and stronger. With Honda we need to do another step because they are very fast."

Quotes

Marc Marquez

Marquez gets beat at the start by Lorenzo and Petrucci
Marquez gets beat at the start by Lorenzo and Petrucci

“Of course I’m very happy, as nine wins in a row here is incredible! But every year the pressure increases, because beginning on Thursday, everyone starts asking about winning on Sunday! Anyway, we have the experience to handle that as well. Today I expected the race to have different phases, with the first tire drop happening after around nine laps and a final one seven to five laps from the end. I was prepared to manage the different situations, but in the beginning it wasn’t easy because my start wasn’t perfect. I expected that Lorenzo might pass me but not Petrucci.

"I lost two positions and then overtaking them wasn’t easy. When I did it, I started to push in order to pull a gap but without being ‘crazy’ so that I could manage the tire consumption until the end of the race. But then they signaled me that Valentino was closing in very fast, and when I saw 0.6 in the board I understood that I had to push again and completely use my tires for two or three laps, so I did my fastest lap of the race.

"I was able to open a gap again and then manage it. Then, when I was celebrating I saw a marshal with a No. 26 cap, so I took it and went to celebrate in front of the fans because I think this weekend Dani was the protagonist, and we’ll miss him. We and Honda are working very well and we need to continue like this in the second part of the Championship with the same feeling we’ve had so far."

Race Classification

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

25

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

41'05.019

2

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

20

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

2.196

3

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

16

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

2.776

4

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

13

Alma Pramac Racing

Ducati

3.376

5

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

11

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

5.183

6

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

10

Ducati Team

Ducati

5.780

7

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

9

Ducati Team

Ducati

7.941

8

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

8

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

12.711

9

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

7

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

14.428

10

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

6

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

21.474

11

Syahrin Hafizh

55

MAL

5

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

25.809

12

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

4

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

25.963

13

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

3

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

29.040

14

Miller Jack

43

AUS

2

Alma Pramac Racing

Ducati

29.325

15

Redding Scott

45

GBR

1

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

34.123

16

Bradl Stefan

6

GER

0

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

38.207

17

Luthi Tom

12

SWI

0

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

49.369

18

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

0

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

1'01.022

19

Simeon Xavier

10

BEL

0

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1'16.692

20

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

0

LCR Honda

Honda

21 laps

21

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

0

LCR Honda

Honda

26 laps

22

Rins Alex

42

SPA

0

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

23

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

0

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

Rider Standings

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

165

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

2

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

119

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

3

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

109

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

4

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

88

Ducati Team

Ducati

5

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

88

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

6

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

85

Ducati Team

Ducati

7

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

84

Alma Pramac Racing

Ducati

8

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

79

LCR Honda

Honda

9

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

75

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

10

Miller Jack

43

AUS

57

Alma Pramac Racing

Ducati

11

Rins Alex

42

SPA

53

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

12

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

49

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

13

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

44

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

14

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

32

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

15

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

30

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

16

Syahrin Hafizh

55

MAL

22

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

17

Morbidelli Franco

21

ITA

19

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

18

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

16

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

19

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

13

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

20

Redding Scott

45

GBR

12

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

21

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

10

LCR Honda

Honda

22

Kallio Mika

36

FIN

6

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

23

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

4

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

Team Standings

Pos.

Team

Points

1

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

228

2

Repsol Honda Team

214

3

Ducati Team

173

4

Alma Pramac Racing

141

5

Team Suzuki Ecstar

128

6

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

110

7

LCR Honda

89

8

Angel Nieto Team

48

9

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

45

10

Reale Avintia Racing

30

11

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

28

12

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

19

Constructor Standings

Pos.

Team

Points

1

Honda

200

2

Yamaha

160

3

Ducati

158

4

Suzuki

104

5

KTM

39

6

Aprilia

26