Marquez wins big in Germany

Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez

A mix of pure talent, tactics, teamwork and a cool head earned Marc Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team one of the best wins in one of the most difficult, mixed-conditions races so far this season. Marc has therefore maintained his perfect record at the Sachsenring, winning the German GP from pole for the fourth year in a row in the premier class, the seventh across all classes, only leaving fellow Honda RC213V rider Cal Crutchlow the satisfaction of setting the fastest lap on his way to the second step of the podium.

With heavy rain intermittently hitting the Sachsenring into the afternoon, the MotoGP race was declared wet and teams prepared for the high probability of another flag-to-flag GP. The choice of a front Michelin rain super soft, the same tire chosen by almost the entire grid, didn’t prove to be the best one for Marc, who progressively lost ground from the front in the first phase of the race, dropping back to ninth position after an excursion in the gravel in turn 8.

But the track was drying, and Marc had planned a strategy with the team for such a case: switching to slick tires as soon as conditions were safe enough to allow it. And so he did, entering the pit and changing bikes on lap 18. He was careful in the first few laps after that but quickly began recovering ground and positions from 14th place.

The Spaniard was already sixth and chasing the front riders when they pitted to swap bikes. It was on lap 24 that Marc, second at that point, quickly overtook Jack Miller and assumed the lead in the race, finally crossing the line with almost a 10 second advantage on runner-up Crutchlow.

Lap after lap the track dried and lap after lap Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) got faster and faster. The Brit found himself in fourth on the 19th lap as several riders began to pit, Crutchlow still pushing his wets around. He followed Dovizioso into the pits soon after, re-joining with his former teammate to battle for the podium. Having opted for slicks, Crutchlow found himself right behind Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) and in the hunt for second place. There was no love lost between the Brits, Crutchlow breaking Redding to secure second place and return to the podium for the first time since Argentina in 2015.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Known for his ability in the wet, Andrea Dovizioso shot straight into podium contention as the race began, pressuring for the lead. ‘Desmo Dovi’ sat behind Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) for several laps, gifted the lead when the Italian fell on lap 11. He continued to forge ahead on wets, his lead rapidly depleting. After multiple laps struggling on wets he finally made the call to pit, prompting every rider behind to follow him. The group re-joining to battle for third place, unable to match the pace of Crutchlow the factory Ducati man did well to pass Redding on the final lap and take his second podium of the year.

The disappointment was clear to see on Scott Redding’s face after holding onto third until the very last lap. Fourth is still a great result for the Brit, his second best finish of a year plagued by technical issues. Like Redding, Iannone opted to switch to intermediate tires and while he made progress, was ruled out of the final podium battle and settled for fifth.

Marquez leads at wet start
Marquez leads at wet start

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) took a solid sixth ahead of Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), the Australian the last to swap tires.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was strong from the start of the race but waited until Dovizioso and Crutchlow, with whom he was battling with, had pitted for tires to come in. As a result he came home in eighth, closing in on his teammate in the championship but losing out to Marquez once more.

Jorge Lorenzo’s (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) weekend didn’t get any better. The World Champion was inside the top ten as the race got underway, but as in Assen he began to fade as the race went on and slowly dropped back. It was even worse than in Assen, Lorenzo taking a single point for 15th place.

Danilo Petrucci’s reputation as a wet-weather specialist continued to grow in Germany. ‘Petrux’ was on a mission and quickly took the lead, comfortably sitting at the head of the race. That was until he crashed at Turn 3 on lap 11, he pitted for his second bike just as the one he was on burst into flames. He eventually retired from the race, another disappointing end to a race with so much potential.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) crashed while chasing Marquez after pitting for new tires, ending his run of scoring points in every race.

Local rider Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was forced to miss him home race after a fall in Warm Up. He was taken to the local hospital for a CT scan after suffering a concussion in the crash.

Quotes

Marc Marquez At a certain point today, I thought my run at this circuit was going to come to an end, but in the end we succeeded and earned a very good result, especially considering how Valentino [Rossi] and Jorge [Lorenzo] finished the race. I’m very happy with how we worked with the team today: they did a great job preparing my bike after my crash in the warm-up, and then in the race our strategy proved to be perfect. It was a very difficult race, with it being flag-to-flag and the track conditions so delicate. In the first part of the race, in the wet, I found things a little difficult. I had picked the wrong front tire for my riding style, but I was able to switch to slicks. I was very careful in the opening laps after changing bikes, because the dry line was very narrow and there was still a lot of water on the surface. It’s always very difficult to decide when to change bikes, and perhaps we made our switch very early—I think I was the second rider to do so—but I decided to take a chance and it went well. We end the first half of the season with our homework done and off the back of a good race, but we must not forget to prepare well for the second half of the year.

Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Make Time/Gap
1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 25 Repsol Honda Team Honda 47'03.239
2 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 20 LCR Honda Honda 9.857
3 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 16 Ducati Team Ducati 11.613
4 REDDING Scott 45 GBR 13 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 11.992
5 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 11 Ducati Team Ducati 22.755
6 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 10 Repsol Honda Team Honda 25.920
7 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 9 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 26.043
8 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 8 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 26.449
9 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 7 Avintia Racing Ducati 26.614
10 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 6 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 31.274
11 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE 5 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati 41.208
12 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 4 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 42.158
13 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 3 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'03.129
14 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 2 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'06.091
15 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 1 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'17.694
16 RABAT Tito 53 SPA 0 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1 lap
17 BAZ Loris 76 FRA 0 Avintia Racing Ducati 2 laps
18 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL 0 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati 3 laps
19 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 0 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 13 laps
20 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 0 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 18 laps

Rider Standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 170 Repsol Honda Team Honda
2 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 122 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
3 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 111 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
4 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 96 Repsol Honda Team Honda
5 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 83 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
6 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 72 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
7 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 65 Avintia Racing Ducati
8 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 63 Ducati Team Ducati
9 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 59 Ducati Team Ducati
10 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE 53 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati
11 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 51 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
12 REDDING Scott 45 GBR 45 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
13 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 42 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
14 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 40 LCR Honda Honda
15 BRADL Stefan 6 GER 37 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
16 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 35 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
17 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 35 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
18 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 24 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
19 PIRRO Michele 51 ITA 19 Ducati Team Ducati
20 RABAT Tito 53 SPA 18 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
21 BAZ Loris 76 FRA 8 Avintia Racing Ducati
22 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL 3 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati

Team Standings

Pos. Team Points
1 Repsol Honda Team 266
2 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 233
3 Team Suzuki Ecstar 134
4 Ducati Team 122
5 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 107
6 Avintia Racing 73
7 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 72
8 Octo Pramac Racing 69
9 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 60
10 Aspar MotoGP Team 56
11 LCR Honda 40

Constructor Standings

Pos. Team Points
1 Yamaha 186
2 Honda 185
3 Ducati 124
4 Suzuki 89
5 Aprilia 51