MotoGP, 'Marvellous' Marquez, eighth win on the Sachsenring, Folger 2nd

The opportunity was just too ripe and Marc Marquez certainly could not pass it up. This time, however, it was not as simple and taken for granted for the Spanish rider who found Jonas Folger in his way on the Sachsenring, cheered on by his home fans. The German rider showed that he had a little something extra from the start, to the point that he held the five-time world champion’s pace.

He did everything he could to make problems for him, but nothing worked against the phenom from Cervera who took his eighth consecutive win in Germany: “It was a very fast race with an incredible rhythm –Marc began – I saw Jonas overtake me. I thought it was due to his new tyres, but instead he proved to be consistently competitive. In the finale, I gained a bit of margin that let me win.” Marquez wins and at the same time, rises to the top of the championship standings. It simply could not have gone any better than this.

Folger, on the other hand, had to settle for second place which is just as good as the win: “I don’t know what to say. I never would have expected it – the Tech3 rider commented – I managed to follow Marc and I couldn’t believe the advantage over the others. It’s a pity about that mistake on turn 1 – he added – I thought I could beat him, but I struggled with the tyres.”

Dani Pedrosa was also on the podium at the Sachsenring: “I thought I had a good chance – number 26 commented – but Marc pushed hard straight away and then I started to feel some spinning. I was unable to maintain their pace.”

It was a catch-up Sunday in the Yamaha camp. After a complicated Saturday, Maverick Viñales was able to move up as far as fourth place, taking advantage of his confidence on the dry track. Behind him was Valentino Rossi, followed by Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaró, who snatched seventh place from Dovizioso in the finale. Zarco and Crutchlow were also in the top ten, whereas Lorenzo and Petrucci were eleventh and twelfth respectively, with the Pramac rider complaining of great difficulties with the tyres. Iannone and Sam Lowes both crashed out.