Marquez Takes Over in Close Title Chase
Maverick Viñales arrived at the Sachsenring not leading the world championship. This was for the first time since he left the first race in Qatar. When he left Germany, the title battle was closer than it had been after Qatar, with the top four riders — M
MotoGP
By the end of lap one it was Sachsenring situation normal: Marquez ahead of Pedrosa, the two Repsol Honda men who had won the previous seven races at the track. There was only one question: how long would it take for the pair to pull clear of the pack, slip-sliding their RC213Vs around the rollercoaster track?
But wait, here comes a rookie on a second-hand motorcycle! On lap three Jonas Folger took third place from Jorge Lorenzo, who had made his usual fast staff on the Ducati, before engaging reverse gear and slipping to 11th.
On lap four Folger set a new lap record, closed the gap on Pedrosa and then swept past at Turn 12, the track’s best overtaking spot. The next lap he did the same thing at the same place to Marquez. The last German to lead a MotoGP race was Stefan Bradl, who had led Marquez at Laguna in 2013. The last — and so far the only — German to win a premier-class GP was Edmund Czihak who won the 1974 500 GP at the Nürburgring, but only because the top
riders went on strike. There were seven starters and four finishers. So you can guess how loud the 80,000 German fans cheered Folger.
The 23-year-old stayed ahead for five laps while Marquez recovered his composure. “It was great surprise to see Jonas — what are you doing there?” smiled Marquez afterwards. “I was pushing hard because I was a long way behind in the championship — everything is so tight.”
No surprise that rookie Folger then made a few mistakes, running too deep into Turn One. But once Marquez had got back ahead, he didn’t give up. He stayed right with the leader until three laps from the flag when he again ran wide at the first corner. Only after that did Folger ease off, crossing the line three seconds behind the winner and eight ahead of Pedrosa, who had the loneliest ride.
“I almost lost control a few times, so I was lucky to stay on,” said Folger. “In the end I let Marc go. I was thinking to make an attack but then I made a mistake, lost a second and nearly crashed. The race was a really nice moment for me.”
Very true, but it was a worrying 40 minutes for his team owner Herve Poncharal who was worried Folger would overdo it. “I wanted Marc to open a bigger gap, because if the gap stayed close to the last lap I knew Jonas would try to win,” said Poncharal. “What I really liked was that Johann [Zarco] came to the parc fermé to hug Jonas, which showed great team spirit.”
The race was more interesting behind Pedrosa, with Viñales fighting back from 10th on the first lap to hunt down Ducati star Dovizioso and Movistar team-mate Rossi, whom he passed in glorious fashion round the outside on the highspeed plunge from Turn 11. Viñales won this duel by seven-tenths, moving him back into second in the championship, while Marquez took the points lead for the first time this year.
Viñales knew it could have been better. “We are strong but these last few races prove that we have to learn,” he said.
One week after winning at Assen, Rossi finished a distant fifth, but he was optimistic for the second half of the
season. “The result is not so bad,” he said. “The race was very difficult because we always pushed to the maximum with plus-zero behind. If I had started closer to the front, I could have fought for the podium. In a year like this, sometimes you have a good feeling so you can push, other times you suffer. So it’s important to always try and take some points.”
Dovizioso arrived in Germany as the championship leader, largely thanks to back-to-back wins at Mugello and Barcelona, where he got the Michelins working better than anyone else. This time he didn’t and he suffered for it, slipping relentlessly back to be passed by the GP16 of Alvaro Bautista and the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro, going well at a circuit which is all corners and very few straights.
“Everyone missed the tyretemperature window, apart from the first two because they had an incredible pace,” said Dovizioso, the only top rider to race with a soft rear, while most chose medium fronts and rears. “Maverick and Valentino struggled a lot from the middle of the race but my soft rear dropped in a completely different way from them. It dropped later but much more. It was the wrong choice for sure and lost me points in the championship. But, overall, the feeling is good and the championship is there: anything can happen!”
Folger’s fellow rookie team-mate Zarco finished a chastened ninth after a couple of big practice falls. He passed the flag three seconds ahead of Crutchlow (LCR Honda), who went backwards when his front tyre overheated. Also going backwards at a similar rate was Assen runner-up Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati) who ran with the lead group until he ran out of rear grip.
Pol Espargaro was Red Bull KTM’s best in 13th, just ahead of team-mate Bradley Smith, still riding with a mangled finger.
Moto2
Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Kalex) scored a magnificent victory, beating Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) by six hundredths of a second. The Italian’s sixth of the season increased his championship lead to 37 points after title his challengers — team-mate Alex Marquez and Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Kalex) — crashed while challenging for the lead.
In the closing stages Morbidelli came under pressure from Oliveira, who was ahead on the penultimate lap. But Morbidelli wasn’t prepared to take a safe second to protect his points lead, so he retook the lead on the last lap.
The battle for the final place on the podium was similarly exciting and ended in this order:
Francesco Bagnaia (Sky VR46 Kalex), Simone Corsi (Speed Up) and Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex).
Moto3
Nineteen-year-old Spaniard Joan Mir (Leopard Honda) won a thrilling threeway contest, banishing memories of his last-lap mistake at Assen. Mir’s fifth success of the season increased his title lead to 37 points.
Mir spent most of the race fighting with COTA winner Romano Fenati (Snipers Honda) and first-time podium finisher Marco Ramirez (KTM). Positions changed constantly, Mir timing his final attack to perfection, diving past Fenati at the penultimate corner. The trio was just two-tenths of a second apart at the flag.
Assen winner Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia Honda) crashed out while in the middle of a frantic 14-rider skirmish for sixth place.