MotoGP: Marquez win puts him 46 points clear in title race

Marc Marquez romped to yet another German GP victory, having dominated Sunday’s race at the Sachsenring. The Spaniard took over the lead from compatriot Jorge Lorenzo on lap 13 and, despite initially being closed down by arch rival Valentino Rossi, Marquez responded to pull clear for his ninth consecutive win at the German venue.

Marc hadn’t looked his dominant self through the weekend, as he was not convincingly topping the free practice sessions, however, he turned it on when it mattered, scorching to the top of the qualifying time sheets with a new lap record – his ninth consecutive pole at the venue too.

Despite starting from pole, it was the fast-starting Ducatis of Jorge Lorenzo and Danilo Petrucci that pushed Marquez out at turn one, whilst Valentino Rossi slotted in behind the Repsol Honda ace. As tyre wear hit the Ducatis, Marquez and Rossi made their way through, whereas the rest were left to tussle with the Bologna Bullets.

“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 tyre drop happening after around nine laps and a final one seven to five laps from the end,” said Marquez, in a race where tyre selection was pivotal.

“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 tyre consumption until the end of the race,” continued the run-away championship leader.

“But then they signalled 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 tyres 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.”

Marquez now leads the championship with a comfortable 46 point lead over Valentino Rossi, who sits in 2nd and 10 points ahead of his teammate Maverick Vinales. Andrea Dovizioso and Johann Zarco are joint 4th with 88 points.