Marquez wins Honda’s eighth successive German GP 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 tyre.

Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) scored the final World Championship in 15^th, after qualifying 13^th 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 18^th.

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 6^th.

Marc Marquez

“I’m very, very happy. I knew before the weekend that this was an important moment in the Championship and that the Sachsenring was an important circuit for us. It was the place to take a risk if necessary and to try to win. So I’m happy we took these 25 points and the lead in the Championship before the summer break. I wish to dedicate this win to Nicky [Hayden] and his family. I had promised this to myself after his incident because we had some very good moments together and he was a friend. The race was very tight. Honestly, before the start I thought I would have to battle with Dani, but actually there was also another very fast opponent. I was very surprised at the beginning to see Jonas there, and I thought he might stay in between with the other riders, but he actually remained there! He was quite a tough opponent! The Championship is very close with four riders within 10 points and with Dani also not far away. Everything is open, so we’ll keep the same mentality, the same positivity and hard work. Now we have a few days of holidays, but not too much to be ready for Brno!”

Dani Pedrosa

“I’m happy enough with this podium. We worked very well this weekend, trying to manage every situation. In the race I felt really strong in the first laps and was able to stay close to Marc. Then I started to lose grip in the rear tyre, but I thought, okay, no problem; it’s going to be a long race and it’s normal to lose some grip. But when Jonas passed me, I tried to follow and I couldn’t keep contact. I tried to manage but when I felt the tyre was spinning too much I settled for a podium. I expected to be a little bit stronger but all in all it was a positive result, as we gathered some good points for the Championship. I feel positive, we have two days to test during the summer, and we’ll work on the areas we know we must improve, especially to make the tyres work well no matter the conditions in order to be more consistent in the second part of the championship.”

Cal Crutchlow

“That was probably the most disappointing race of the year for me. I’m glad it’s over and I’m looking forward to the summer break. After three laps we had a front tyre temperature way higher than at any other race, so I had to manage that for 27 laps. A tyre-pressure warning light came on and I nearly went down two or three times in the early laps. I made a pass on Valentino [Rossi] and he came past again. When I rode my own pace in the middle of the race I was fast, but I finished tenth and that’s it. We live and learn.”

Jack Miller

“The front tyre was fine for the race distance but the rear was a different matter, it just didn’t work the way I expected it to after practice. The tyre was spinning on both sides from the start and three laps into the race it felt like it had already done the 30-lap race distance. And with so many left-hand turns with ten laps to go I was pretty much out of grip, it was a strange feeling. I was expecting a really strong race here so this is a disappointing result but I go to the summer break determined to return with a strong finish to the season.”

Tito Rabat

“It was strange because we tested the same tyre in FP3 and it worked fine but after four or five laps in the race it was completely finished and I had to be so careful opening the gas, it was dangerous and easy to crash. So I just tried to finish the race by changing the engine map, which helped a lot, but I was still forced to ride slower than I wanted to, it was strange. Now I am looking forward to a good summer break and coming back stronger in Brno.”