MotoGP World Championship leader extends advantage in overall standings with win in chaotic flag-to-flag race, in which Dani Pedrosa soars to a sixth place finish.
Marc Marquez’s phenomenal run in the German Grand Prix, which had seen him victorious for six consecutive years at Sachsenring (once in 125cc, twice in Moto2 and four times in MotoGP), was extended to seven today with a win in a flag-to-flag race. The Spaniard did not have a good feeling on his bike on the first few laps –contested in wet conditions– and decided to change bikes early after making a mistake that ran him wide and dropped him down to eleventh. With 12 laps remaining, the track drying out and the Repsol Honda rider’s pace much higher than that of his rivals, he rose rapidly from eighteenth to win the German GP with an almost 10 second advantage. The result puts him 48 points ahead of his closest rival at the halfway mark of the season.
Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa gradually moved up the field to sixth position, keeping the place even after changing bike four laps later. With this result, he lies fourth overall, with 96 points.
Marc Marquez – 1º, 47:03.239 >> Audio
“At a certain point today, I thought my run at this circuit was going to come to an end, but in the end we succeeded and earned a very good result, especially considering how Valentino [Rossi] and Jorge [Lorenzo] finished the race. I’m very happy with how we worked with the team today: they did a great job preparing my bike after my crash in the warm-up, and then in the race our strategy proved to be perfect. It was a very difficult race, with it being flag-to-flag and the track conditions so delicate.
In the first part of the race, in the wet, I found things a little difficult. I had picked the wrong front tyre for my riding style, but I was able to switch to slicks. I was very careful in the opening laps after changing bikes, because the dry line was very narrow and there was still a lot of water on the surface. It’s always very difficult to decide when to change bikes, and perhaps we made our switch very early –I think I was the second rider to do so– but I decided to take a chance and it went well. We end the first half of the season with our homework done and off the back of a good race, but we must not forget to prepare well for the second half of the year.”
Dani Pedrosa – 6º at 25.920 sec. >> Audio
“I wasn’t feeling super-strong in the wet today, not like in this morning’s warm-up. I had chosen the front super soft tyre and I didn’t expect the track to dry so quickly. I tried to keep a constant pace and not make mistakes. Unfortunately, when I made the swap my feeling in the dry wasn’t the best until I get some temperature in the tyres, but at least I managed to make a few passes and finish sixth. I would have liked to do better, but we must to stay focused and prepare for the coming races.”
