Repsol Honda rider takes second win of the year and takes lead of MotoGP World Championship. Dani Pedrosa, who could not take the start through injury, trails Marc Marquez by two points.
The German Grand Prix signalled a turnaround in the MotoGP standings, thanks to a second victory of the season for Marc Marquez that gives him the top spot in the general classification. He did so in the absence of Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo, injured in practice. The eighth round of the MotoGP World Championship had Marquez claiming pole, the fastest lap of the race and the win, taking over from Pedrosa as series leader.
Pedrosa, a doubt until the final moments prior to the race after his crash yesterday, could not take the start after failing a morning medical.
When the lights went out, Marquez could not take advantage of pole position and was overtaken by Stefan Bradl, Valentino Rossi and Aleix Espargaro. With patience, he first passed Espargaro on lap 3, Rossi on lap 5 and Bradl on lap 6. The Repsol Honda team rider then imposed a pace that was impossible to follow for his rivals and increased his lead lap after lap. Cal Crutchlow moved into second and on the last 8 laps tried to catch Marquez, but the Repsol Honda rider defended his lead and eventually crossed the finish line 1.5 seconds ahead.
With little time to digest the happenings in Germany, the MotoGP World Championship moves to America this week, where it will return to action next Friday at the spectacular Laguna Seca circuit.
Dani Pedrosa
“This morning I had my check up in the medical centre and I felt okay, my shoulder was painful but otherwise I felt fine. The doctors declared me fit to take part in warm up. Then shortly before the session I began to feel dizzy again and my blood pressure dropped. The doctors came to see me in my truck and we decided I shouldn’t take part in the session. I returned to my motorhome to rest and still felt dizzy and sick. The doctors arrived at my motorhome and informed me that they did not consider I was okay to race and would therefore declare me unfit.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st – 41:14.653
“I am very happy with this victory. It was important to have a good race under the circumstances this weekend, without Dani and Jorge on track. I wish them a speedy recovery, because winning is important but without them the triumph isn’t quite the same. Even so, it is a good result, since we have taken the maximum points available and ridden a completely different race to those that we’ve had before. We led the race and maintained the gap to second place. It was good experience, although I perhaps prefer races that are a little more of a battle! We should be happy, and we have also held up well physically at a circuit where there is no time to rest on the bike. We’ll see how it goes in Laguna Seca, which will be a hard GP for me because I’ve never ridden there. We’ll take it step-by-step and remain calm whilst we get up to speed.”
