MAKING it nine wins from nine races, Marc Marquez won the German Grand Prix despite mixed weather conditions causing a mass start from pit lane.
Rain started to fall after the Moto2 race, but as the MotoGP teams made it onto the grid with wet tyres on, the track appeared to be drying quickly although after the sighting lap riders reported standing water at Turn 12.
German Stefan Bradl made a brave decision to change to slicks just before the warm-up lap which would prove to be the best decision as riders on wet tyres including Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi all dashed into pit lane to change onto their second machine with slick tyres.
Despite Bradl leading from the off due to most riders had to start from pit lane, it appeared his bike was still set up for wet conditions despite changing to the slick tyres meaning his soon dropped from first to 16th position.
As predicted, Repsol Honda’s Marquez carved his way through the field to the front with his team-mate Dani Pedrosa in tow, but was able to make a breakaway of 1.4 seconds.
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo finished ten seconds behind the winner, Marc Marquez, putting the former World Champion back on the podium as the summer break begins.
Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi finished in fourth whilst Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone finished topped Ducati in fifth.
Aleix Espargaro finished in sixth for the NGM Forward Racing Team as his young brother and MotoGP rookie Pol Espargaro finished seventh on his Monster Yamaha Tech3 machine.
Ducati team-mates Andrea Dovizoso and Cal Crutchlow managed to finish in eighth and tenth respectively,
Pol Espargaro’s team-mate and British rider Bradley Smith crashed out in the early stages, but remounted and was able to finish in a low 19th position.
German Grand Prix race results:
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team 41:47.664
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 41:49.130 (+1.466)
3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 41:57.981 (+10.317)
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 42:6.858 (+19.194)
5. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing 42:11.173 (+23.509)
6. Aleix Espargaro* ESP NGM Forward Racing 42:15.473 (+27.809)
7. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42:20.917 (+33.253)
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team 42:21.532 (+33.868)
9. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini 42:21.895 (+34.231)
10. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team 42:22.340 (+34.676)
11. Scott Redding* GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini 42:25.408 (+37.744)
12. Hiroshi Aoyama* JPN Drive M7 Aspar 42:32.682 (+45.018)
13. Karel Abraham* CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 42:32.841 (+45.177)
14. Nicky Hayden* USA Drive M7 Aspar 42:34.340 (+46.676)
15. Danilo Petrucci* ITA IodaRacing Project 42:40.433 (+52.769)
16. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP 42:41.553 (+53.889)
17. Yonny Hernandez* COL Pramac Racing 42:42.140 (+54.476)
18. Hector Barbera* ESP Avintia Racing 42:43.879 (+56.215)
19. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42:43.957 (+56.293)
20. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing 42:51.747 (+1:04.083)
21. Broc Parkes* AUS Paul Bird Motorsport 42:58.592 (+1:10.928)
22. Mike Di Meglio* FRA Avintia Racing 43:7.639 (+1:19.975)
DNF. Michael Laverty* GBR Paul Bird Motorsport
