Magnificent Marquez reigns in Germany as podium contenders crash

Oberlungwitz [Germany], July 14 : On his 200th start, Marc Marquez of Ducati Lenovo Team moved into second place on the MotoGP victory tally charts, surpassing Legend Giacomo Agostini, in a display of perfection at the Liqui Moly Grand Prix of Germany, an official statement from the MotoGP said.

According to the statement, it's 69 wins now for the King of the Sachsenring, as Alex Marquez of BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, on his 100th start, strung together an impressive ride to finish P2 while injured. Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati Lenovo Team bounced back with a podium finish in P3 in a battle that saw rostrum contenders crash out at the Sachsenring.

With the threat of wet weather forcing its way into playing a leading role diminishing towards go time, we strapped ourselves in for a dry German GP and as the lights went out, it was Marc Marquez who collected the holeshot as Fabio Di Giannantonio of Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team made a blinder from P6 to grab an early P3. Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia Racing slotted into P2, as Johann Zarco of CASTROL Honda LCR slipped to P5 on the opening lap from the middle of the front row.

Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi exchanged P2 on the opening lap before the former made a move stick at Turn 12, as Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing engaged in a battle too. Marc Marquez, meanwhile, was blissfully unaware of the fight unfolding behind him as he stretched his advantage to 0.7s at the end of Lap 3.

Acosta's Grand Prix then ended with a crash at Turn 2 from P5, so that was KTM's main hopes of the Sachsenring podium over. That promoted Bagnaia to P5, with Alex Marquez swarming all over the tailpipes of Bezzecchi for P3. 0.6s up the road in P2, Di Giannantonio was losing around a tenth a lap to Marc Marquez at this stage of the Grand Prix, the statement added.

It was more than that for the next few laps, though. The #93 was the only rider capable of lapping in the 1:20s on a consistent basis; he hadn't dropped into the 1:21 bracket, and the gap on Lap 8 of 30 was up to 1.7s. And by Lap 16, just over half race distance, Marc Marquez's lead was north of three seconds.

Di Giannantonio was under a second ahead of Bezzecchi, with Alex Marquez and then Bagnaia all operating at equal distance behind each other. But then, we lost our second-place rider from the Grand Prix. Di Giannantonio tucked the front at Turn 1 on Lap 18, and Zarco was out of the race at the same corner - albeit a little further around - as two of the top six had premature ends to their German GPs.

That meant Alex Marquez was lifted to a podium position in P3, and the rider second in the championship chase had 1.2s to play with to Pecco in P4. But then, Turn 1 caught out our P2 rider again.

Bezzecchi's race was over similarly to Di Giannantonio, so that meant it was Marc Marquez leading Alex Marquez by 5.9s, with Bagnaia now P3.

Turn 1 was really proving tricky. In the fight for the top 10, Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) took out the luckless Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol), and while the yellow flags were waving, Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) chucked it down the road at Turn 1 too.

In terms of the victory and podium fight, there was nothing much to report. Marc Marquez cruised to a 9th MotoGP victory at the Sachsenring, with Alex Marquez limiting the points damage with a brilliant ride to P2 while nursing his fractured left hand, as Pecco salvages a solid P3 after a Saturday to forget, the statement added.

In the fight for P4, Quartararo fended off Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) as the Frenchman and Spaniard claimed P4 and P5 in Germany. The returning Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) earned his best HRC result in P6, in what was a fantastic fight between the Italian, seventh place Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and eighth place Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP).

Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) rounded out the top 10, and that was your lot in terms of finishers in a race of attrition at the Sachsenring.

MotoGP powers into Czechia next week for the Grand Prix of Czechia. Catch all the action live on Eurosport.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor