Marquez misses out on podium on final lap, but lies second in overall standings. Rins crashes on Lap 1 after contact from rival rider.
After the podium double for the Repsol riders at Assen, the German Grand Prix was not such a positive race for Alex Marquez and Alex Rins. Marquez finished just off the podium, and his teammate was hit by Eric Granado on the first lefthander of the opening lap – knocking him out of the race.
Jack Miller started very strong and managed to establish a gap of more than half a second over Marquez, until the Spanish star reeled him in on Lap 4. He brought Brad Binder, Alexis Masbou and Danny Kent along with him, and the remainder of the race featured constant overtaking between the four riders, behind Miller.
With four laps remaining, Binder escaped alongside Miller and the two created a gap of 1 second, leaving Marquez to fight for the final podium spot with Masbou and Kent. Finally Masbou took third, with Marquez fourth – 0.061s back.
After this result, Miller remains Moto3 World Championship leader and Marquez moves to second in the overall standings – 19 points behind the Australian. Rins drops to fifth 35 points behind. The series now takes a short break and will return to action in Indianapolis, USA, on August 10th.
Alex Rins >> Audio
Fall
“Right from the start this was a hard Grand Prix for us. We had a lot of crashes this weekend and it was all very tough. In the race I was only to ride a couple of corners, because Eric Granado hit me and we both went down. These things happen, it’s racing and we will be stronger at Indianapolis because of it”.
Alex Marquez >> Audio
4th a 1.180 sec.
“We wanted to have a good race to go into the summer break feeling good and that is the case, despite me finishing fourth. I got a good start and was behind Miller, but I saw that I had to go right on the limit and wasn’t comfortable with the front. I also had a few scares with the rear, so fourth is very positive for us and, most importantly, we keep adding points to our tally. We will train to the fullest in the summer break in order to get ready for Indianapolis”.
