Current MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez chalked up an easy 9th victory in a row on Sunday despite starting the German Grand Prix from a crowded pit-lane after pre-race rain at the complex Sachsenring circuit. Marquez’s Repsol Honda team mate and compatriot Dani Pedrosa finished second, 1.466 seconds behind the champion, with double world champion Jorge Lorenzo completing an all-Spanish podium with a 3rd placing for Yamaha. Marquez, who now has 225 points to Pedrosa’s 148, became the first rider since Italian Giacomo Agostini in 1970 to win the first 9 races of a season. Agostini won the opening 10 races that year.
In an unusual start, 14 riders, including all the factory ones lined up together at the pit-lane exit after leaving it late and deciding to switch from wet tyres to slicks only on the warm-up lap.
That left Germany’s Stefan Bradl, who had put on the dry weather tyres before the formation lap, alone on the front row of the grid and followed at some distance by a bunch of backmarkers. Marc Marquez, the 21-year-old who last year became the youngest ever MotoGP champion, had qualified on pole but had to fight through from 10th while Pedrosa emerged 13th.
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POS | RIDER | MOTORCYCLE | TEAM | TIME |
1 | ![]() | HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 41:47.664 |
2 | ![]() | HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | +1.466 |
3 | ![]() | YAMAHA | MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP | +10.317 |
4 | ![]() | YAMAHA | MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP | +19.194 |
5 | ![]() | DUCATI | PRAMAC RACING | +23.509 |
6 | ![]() | FORWARD YAMAHA | NGM FORWARD RACING | +27.809 |
7 | ![]() | YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | +33.253 |
8 | ![]() | DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | +33.868 |
9 | ![]() | HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | +34.231 |
10 | ![]() | DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | +34.676 |
11 | ![]() | HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | +37.744 |
12 | ![]() | HONDA | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | +45.018 |
13 | ![]() | HONDA | CARDION AB MOTORACING | +45.177 |
14 | ![]() | HONDA | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | +46.676 |
15 | ![]() | ART | OCTO IODARACING TEAM | +52.769 |
16 | ![]() | HONDA | LCR HONDA MOTOGP | +53.889 |
17 | ![]() | DUCATI | PRAMAC RACING | +54.476 |
18 | ![]() | AVINTIA | AVINTIA RACING | +56.215 |
19 | ![]() | YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | +56.293 |
20 | ![]() | FORWARD YAHAMA | NGM FORWARD RACING | +1:04.083 |
21 | ![]() | PBM | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | +1:10.928 |
22 | ![]() | AVINTIA | AVINTIA RACING | +1:19.975 |
NOT CLASSIFIED | ||||
![]() | PBM | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | +13 LAPS | |
LAP LEADERS: S.BRADL (1-5), M.MARQUEZ (6-30) |
The champion was back at the front after 6 laps and he pulled away comfortably.