Repsol Honda Team triumph at German Grand Prix thanks to second win of the year for Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa in second.
Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa took first and second place, respectively, in the ninth race of the season, maintaining their positions from qualifying. As happened a year ago, the Repsol Honda riders occupied the top steps of the podium at the German Grand Prix, as Marquez broke away at the start. Pedrosa battled until the midway mark of the race with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, eventually moving back into second and holding his position until the chequered flag.
When the red lights went out, both Marquez and Pedrosa made good starts but were surprised by Lorenzo, who took the lead on the first corner. After five laps, Marquez got past Lorenzo again – one corner before Rossi relegated Pedrosa to fourth. The Italian moved up to second on Lap 8, and Pedrosa also overtook Lorenzo three laps later. Pedrosa eventually made his move with 13 laps to go, claiming second place and upping his pace to give Rossi no chance.
With this result, the World Championship reaches its midway point with Marquez in fourth place. He has 114 points and is 65 off leader Rossi. Pedrosa is seventh with 67 points. This week, the Repsol Honda team will return to work at Misano to complete a three-day test, which should allow them to face the second half of the season in even better shape.
Marc Marquez >> AUDIO
1st – 41:01.087
“I am very happy with this victory. I’ve been chasing it hard over the last few races. In Assen we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel; after Barcelona which was very hard, I felt good on the bike again thanks to the changes we made. We have confirmed that they worked here at this circuit, but I want to be cautious because I am aware that this circuit has always been very good for me and also for the Honda. We have to keep working, because on the laps that I did behind Lorenzo I saw that in some aspects the they were stronger than us. Let’s see if we can continue improving at the Misano test next week.”
Dani Pedrosa >> AUDIO
2nd at 2.226 sec.
“I’m so happy – above all with how we finished the race as I rode very strongly. I was under a lot of pressure from Valentino and, although it had been a while since I had last fought with him and he is very difficult to beat, I gave my all and was able to finish ahead of him. I rode much better at the end and it is the first race this season in which I kept up a good pace until the finish. It’s true that here the bike had less of a handicap than at other tracks, due to the type of circuit it is, but at test next week we have to work hard -because the both Jorge and Valentino were much closer today than in other years here. We’ll see if we can find something for the second half of the season to make us more competitive.”
