Photography by Gold & Goose
For a few early laps at least there was some drama in the German Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, but five laps in Honda’s Marc Marquez put an end to that. The defending world champion who had dominated the proceedings throughout the weekend, made his pass on Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and then opened up a secure lead, which he held the rest of the race. In the end Marquez won the race by a margin of 2.226 seconds and that was after Marquez backed off his pace on the final lap.
It marked the second win of the season for Marquez and his 21st-career MotoGP victory. The Sachsenring must certainly be the best track for Marquez. He’s now won six consecutive races there dating back to his 125cc GP win there in 2010.
“From the beginning I felt good and when I had the gap I just tried to manage it,” Marquez commented. “I’m happy because this weekend we’ve been always first and it has been a long time since I had that. It’s a good result to go on holidays with, but I want to keep getting better.”
Second went to Marquez’s Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa won out in a nearly race-long battle with points leader Valentino Rossi, only opening up a gap on his rival in the last few laps. For Pedrosa it marked his best result of the season.
Pedrosa said the turning point came at half distance: “When the tank emptied at the middle of the race I was comfortable and I went straight past Jorge. Then I went about catching Rossi, but he wasn’t easy to pass. On corner exit the Yamaha is strong. Then I made the move and had to push at the end. I had to push a little more than him as he was really trying.”
Rossi’s took third, 5.6 seconds back from Marquez. That finish actually added to his championship lead over his MoviStar Yamaha factory teammate Jorge Lorenzo. At mid-season Rossi leads the series by 13 points. Rossi had a lot to be happy about.
“I think that Dani had something in his pocket,” Rossi said. “I was at the limit with a constant rhythm, but at one point he was able to pull out 2 very fast laps, I tried to battle but he was too quick. Anyway it’s another podium; I gained three points on Jorge [Lorenzo] which is important for the championship. We know that we always suffer here against the Hondas, so we’ll wait for a better track for the M1.”
Pedrosa made a great start and led into turn one, but Lorenzo swept around the outside to take over the point with Marquez moving to second. Rossi got past the Ducati pair of Iannone and Hernandez on the first lap to move to fourth behind Pedrosa.
Scott Redding was an early faller.
By the third lap the leading quartet of Lorenzo, Marquez, Pedrosa and Rossi and already established some daylight on the field. Iannone was heading the rest of the field in field.
Lap five was packed with action. First Rossi moved past Pedrosa in turn 12 and then two turns later it was Marquez overtaking Lorenzo to take over first. Marquez quickly hammered down and gapped the chasing three.
Rossi then made a brief pass on Lorenzo, but Lorenzo responded and took it back. But a lap later Rossi kept the relentless pressure on and finally made the pass stick. At that point Rossi was 1.8 seconds behind leader Marquez.
Marquez eventually built his lead to four seconds and controlled it. Rossi finally could not hold off the constant pressure by Pedrosa, but once Pedrosa went to second, about halfway through, Rossi kept on his rear wheel until the final few laps. Lorenzo dropped to nearly 10 seconds behind Marquez in fourth by the finish.
Andrea Dovizioso went down on his Ducati in turn six unhurt while running eighth.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) claimed fifth, followed by British riders Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda) in 6th and 7th respectively.
Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completed the top 10. American Nicky Hayden missed a championship point by one position, finishing 16th on his Aspar Honda.
The series now goes into summer break before renewing the second half of the season in America, at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on August 9.
German Grand Prix MotoGP Results from the Sachsenring – July 12, 2015
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V)
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V)
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1)
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1)
5. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15)
6. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)
7. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda (RC213V) 41m
8. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)
9. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.1)
10. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
11. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
12. Yonny Hernandez COL Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2)
13. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open)
14. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)
15. Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda (RC213V-RS)
16. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team (RC213V-RS)
17. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team (RC213V-RS)
18. Alex De Angelis RSM E-Motion IodaRacing (ART)
19. Loris Baz FRA Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha)
20. Michael Laverty GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)
Claudio Corti ITA Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) DNF
Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) DNF
Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Cardion AB Motoracing (RC213V-RS) DNF
Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) DNF
Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) DNF
