Marquez back to his mighty best in Germany after 581-day wait for victory
The world has changed dramatically in the 581 days between Marc Marquez’s most recent Motogp victories. No one could have predicted what would follow across 2020 on that November day in 2019 when he eased to win number 12 in his sixth title-winning season.
In the 19 months between Valencia
2019 and last Sunday’s German Grand Prix at Marquez’s stomping ground of the Sachsenring, the Honda rider has been through hell and back. Breaking his right arm in last July’s Spanish GP set him on a path it was not certain he would ever emerge from again as a Motogp racer.
Three surgeries later, endless hours of rehabilitation and a daily routine far removed from normal, Marquez’s return to Motogp action this April in Portugal was an achievement in itself. But it came as a shock to him, his physical condition further from where it needed to be than he expected and the hopes of a quick return to the front of the grid quickly evaporated.
But coming to Germany, few were betting against Marquez. It’s quirky layout of 10 left and three right corners suited Marquez’s flat track background in normal times.
With a lack of power in his right shoulder his main issue in 2021, the Sachsenring layout held greater significance.
Marquez felt his 10-year victory streak in Germany would come to an end despite qualifying fifth and showing strong race pace in practice. But rain in the air on race day changed his outlook somewhat – the Honda rider admitting he knew this was “my race” when spots started to land on his visor in the early stages of the 30-lap contest.
Muscling his way past championship leader Fabio Quartararo into second at Turn 1, Marquez led at the end of lap one after a late lunge on Aleix Espargaro – who took the holeshot from Aprilia’s first front row in the modern Motogp era.
Resisting a retaliation on lap two from Espargaro, Marquez entered a lead he wouldn’t relinquish to the chequered flag at the start of the third tour.
A master of iffy conditions, Marquez bolted when the rain flags appeared around the circuit. Leading Espargaro by 0.260s at the end of lap eight, he opened that gap up to 1.3s after the following tour. He would grow it to 1.9s after 14 laps.
That rain never amounted to more than a few spots, but it was enough to spook Espargaro, who had Ducati’s Jack Miller and KTM’S Miguel Oliveira pass him at Turns 1 and 2 on lap 10. Oliveira moved ahead of Miller a tour later and set about chasing down his second-successive win on his improved KTM.
Oliveira steadily chipped into Marquez’s gap as the pair countered each other’s lap times in the second half of the grand prix, the KTM rider able to get within a second with four to go. But Marquez responded in