Once again the most competitive, and fastest, of the four riders defending the Repsol colours in the 125cc World Championship was Marc Márquez. Today he put in a great performance on his KTM 125 FRR, and was third on the final lap. However, an incident with his compatriot Joan Olivé on the penultimate corner when the two riders touched, ruined Márquez`s race.
The race began with Simón getting away from the rest on the first lap and he gave no options to his rivals and rode alone at the front to the finishing line. Behind him Terol tried to do the same, and it seemed that he would finish in 2nd position, but Gadea who was in the same group as Márquez overtook him and rode alone. Terol seeemed to have 3rd position sewn up but on lap 22 of 27, Olivé & Márquez caught him up and got past him. From that moment on all Terol could do was watch the fight between the two Spaniards for 3rd position.
Before that Márquez had finished the first lap in 6th place and had had to fight with Corsi and then Iannone before catching Olivé up. He reached Terol and overtook him three laps from the end – something he did cleanly and precisely at the end of the straigh – and then Márquez repeated the same manoeuvere with Olivé at the start of the final lap, he then prepared himself to defend the 3rd position on the last few corners.
On the penultimate one the two Spanish riders hit each other and Márquez, who at that moment was behind his compatriot, arrived at the final corner with the front brake lever bent upwards. When he tried to brake for the final corner the Repsol rider could not pull on it as it was not in its correct position and so he had only the rear brake, the rear wheel locked and he was thrown off the bike. In the end Márquez crossed the finishing line in 16th place with a damaged bike, a result that does not reveal how well the young rider had ridden.
Of the other Repsol riders in the category, the best was Cameron Beaubier in 14th position, winning two more points and getting his best result of the season. It was a day to forget for Esteve Rabat & Scott Redding. The former fell on the second lap but was uninjured, and the latter had to retire with mechanical problems seven laps from the end.
Marc Márquez, 16º a 1’25.137 secs >> Audio
“At the beginning I was not comfortable at all on the bike because it was sliding around but I picked up a bit of confidence and things got better. I was 6th for a long time but in the end I caught Terol and on the final lap I was 3rd. Then Olivé overtook me with a more powerful engine and I could not get past him when braking. I stuck to him and then overtook him and when I was leaving the corner Olivé swerved, like all the riders, and hit me. The brake lever was bent upwards, I had not seen that, and when I braked for the last corner I could not find it and I changed down and braked with the rear wheel, then then I was thrown off the bike. It was a spectacular fall but I was not injured”.
Esteve Rabat, fell >> Audio
“This was a very difficult weekend, disastrous I would say, with many problems. We started well down the field, 27th but I made a good start and moved up to 14th at the end of the first lap. I really went for it but I had chosen a hard front tyre and the track was cold so even though I had made a good start and a good lap on the first corner of the second lap the front wheel skidded. I have to apologise to the team because they are really working hard and both they and the sponsors are helping me a lot. Once you fall you have to get back up and carry on, I am sure we can get things moving forward again”.
Scott Redding, retired >> Audio
“The start was not so good although I passed a few riders. But on the final corner of the second lap I went onto the grass and I lost quite a few places.
I had to overtake quite a few riders again and I moved up to 9th setting some good times. But then on the final corner when I changed up a few gears I noticed that the bike was not going well and when I used the clutch the bike just stopped”.
Cameron Beaubier, 14º a 1’18.157 secs >> Audio
“The start was quite good but on the first corner there was already quite a battle. I tried to overtake some riders and others tied to do the same to me so I did not make much progress. I picked up a good pace and recovered bit by bit. I made a mistake and I went off the track so I lost some ground and had to make it up again. I was a bit lucky winning points today becuse I made quite a few mistakes, but in the warm-up I had already improved and so I am pleased with the result in Germany and with two more points”.
