Marquez extends German GP dominance
SACHSENRING: Honda rider Marc Marquez cruised to his ninth consecutive German Grand Prix win to extend his MotoGP lead yesterday.
The Spanish world champion has won in the top category for the last six years and before that three times in the lower classes.
“Nine victories in a row here is incredible,” Marquez said. “Viva the Sachsenring!”
Marquez led from pole position, also his ninth in a row, but fell behind fast-starting compatriot Jorge Lorenzo at the start before retaking the lead from the Ducati rider with 18 laps remaining and pulling away.
Marquez finished in 41 minutes 5.019 seconds, 2.196 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi.
The Italian veteran’s Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales was 2.776 seconds further back.
Marquez now has 165 points in the MotoGP championship standings, 46 ahead of Rossi and 56 more than Vinales.
Earlier, KTM rider Brad Binder of South Africa won his first Moto2 Grand Prix ahead of Spain’s Joan Mir and his Kalex teammate Luca Marini.
Binder finished 0.779 seconds ahead of Mir who held off Marini, Valentino Rossi’s half brother, by 0.154 seconds.
“I felt I had a little more power than the others so I decided to go for it and make a break,” Binder said.
“I was afraid I made a mistake. When it got to 10 laps to go I had zero rear tyre left. I could hardly touch the throttle.”
In Moto3, Honda rider Jorge Martin started from pole position and went on to win by a comfortable margin, increasing his slim championship lead.
Martin’s only anxious moment came when teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio touched his rear wheel, but the Spaniard managed to keep his balance while the Italian slid off.
Martin, who won in Assen two weeks ago, finished 2.515 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger in the standings, Italian Marco Bezzecchi, with Scot John McPhee (KTM), third at 2.571.