Marquez wins German Grand-Prix to Take Title Lead
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) continued his astonishing Sachsenring record today, scoring his eighth consecutive race victory at the challenging, undulating German venue. Yesterday he had taken his eighth successive pole position at the track. This is a unique performance in 69 years of motorcycling’s World Championships, with Marquez scoring the pole/win double in the 125cc class in 2010, in Moto2 in 2011 and 2012 and in MotoGP in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Most importantly, the 24-year-old Spaniard’s second win of the year moved him into the World Championship lead for the first time this season. The reigning World Champion now leads the title chase by the narrowest of margins, with the top four riders separated by ten points, an all-time record in premier-class history.
Marquez led away from pole position ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V). But local hero Jonas Folger (Yamaha) soon closed in on the pair to take the lead on lap six. He stayed there for several laps but then Marquez went back ahead. The two stayed within metres of each other until the last few laps when Marquez’s pace on used tyres pulled him three seconds clear of Folger.
Marquez has an incredible record not only here but at other anti-clockwise tracks like COTA, Indianapolis and Laguna Seca. He prefers left-hand corners because he spends much of him time training on dirt-track ovals, which also run anti-clockwise.
Pedrosa also rode a great race to third place for the final position on the podium. The 31-year-old ran with Marquez and Folger, but then dropped back to a lonely third, struggling with excess wheelspin. Pedrosa had won the three MotoGP races here before Marquez’s spree, giving the Repsol Honda Team an amazing run of eight consecutive MotoGP wins at the Sachsenring.
Pedrosa crossed the line 11 seconds down on his team-mate but was happy enough with his fifth podium result from the first nine races of the season. The former 125cc and 250cc World Champion remains fifth overall in the championship, but has significantly closed the gap on the leading pack of four riders.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V) had a more challenging race. The Briton, who finished just a fraction of a second off the podium at Assen last Sunday, ran with the lead group in the early stages but as the race went on he began to lose ground because he was unable to defend his position due to a very high temperature in his front tire.
Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) scored the final World Championship in 15th, after qualifying 13th quickest. The young Australian didn’t have the grip he had hoped for and was disappointed with the result. Team-mate Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) also struggled with traction and completed the race in 18th.
After four races in five weekends the MotoGP paddock now takes a well-earned rest, reconvening for the Czech Grand Prix at Brno on August 6th.
