Marc Marquez has made it an unbelievable nine wins from nine races this season with a perfect weekend in Germany, clinching pole position, fastest race lap (lap 21/30 1’22.037) and the race victory ahead of team-mate Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
A crowd of almost 90,000 saw the start of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland MotoGP contest which was disrupted by pre-race rain, with race winner Marquez, Pedrosa and Lorenzo all getting away from pit lane.
From third on the grid Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) started alone towards the front on slick tyres and led the early laps after rain in the race build up caused confusion as to which tyres would work best. With the track drying quickly 14 of the 23 riders changed from wet set-up to dry after the final Warm Up lap, meaning they had to start from pit lane.
Bradl’s bike set-up appeared to let him down with slicks hurriedly fitted to a previously wet set-up bike on the grid. He eventually dropped to 16th place in his home race.
Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was in imperious form once again to make it nine wins from nine, cutting through the pack in a chaotic first few laps and eventually pulling clear at the front with team-mate Pedrosa, who would ultimately cross the line 1.5s behind him. A further nine seconds back Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) made a welcome return to the podium before the summer break.
Marc Marquez: “Before going out on track I thought it would be a similar race to Assen, but in the end the surface dried out very quickly. I saw on the grid that Bradl had gone with the slick tyre option and I really had my doubts, because the area around the back of the track was still wet. I finally decided to see what Dani and Valentino were going to do, as they are my main rivals in the Championship and if you get it wrong in these races, you can lose a lot of points. That’s why I decided to copy their strategy. The race was nice, especially the first part which was when I enjoyed it the most!”
Dani Pedrosa: The start of the race today was a bit like Assen. Rainfall before the race meant that half the track was wet, and in the time we took to set up on the grid and do the warm up lap it had been drying out; there was only one wet corner, but it was very wet. We had to change to the bike with slicks and almost all of the riders started from pit lane. We couldn’t fight for victory but we were very close, Marc was very fast today, too. Now we have the test at Brno and will try to find a few tenths somewhere, so that we can go faster and be even stronger at Indy.”
Jorge lorenzo: “I’m satisfied because finally we got another podium. At the last two races I couldn’t do it for some reason. In the practice sessions I went fast on both tracks. I hoped to race in a dry race but in the last moment it started spitting so we went with wet tyres and after that we went into the pitlane for slicks. When I started the race and touched the front carbon brake it wasn’t warm enough to work, so to not touch the other riders I had to go onto the track. I let them pass again because it’s not allowed to make progress this way. The leaders were very strong at the beginning with the intermediate track. They had a gap of six, seven or eight seconds. I just needed one or two tenths to stay with them. Anyway, I had a good race and I did my best.”
Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) rode a lonely race to fourth place, a further nine seconds behind Lorenzo, with the top five completed by the impressive Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) as the top Ducati-equipped rider.
Brothers Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) were sixth and seventh respectively, as they both continued their good 2014 form.
The top ten was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team).
A difficult weekend for Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) ended with a 19th place finish after an early crash – his fifth of the visit to Germany. Meanwhile on lap 19 Michael Laverty (Paul Bird Motorsport) crashed out, fortunately avoiding any serious injury.
MotoGP Results
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 41m 47.664s
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 41m 49.130s
3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 41m 57.981s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 42m 6.858s
5. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 42m 11.173s
6. Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 42m 15.473s
7. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 42m 20.917s
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 42m 21.532s
9. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 42m 21.895s
10. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 42m 22.340s
11. Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R)* 42m 25.408s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 42m 32.682s
13. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 42m 32.841s
14. Nicky Hayden USA Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 42m 34.340s
15. Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing Project (ART) 42m 40.433s
16. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 42m 41.553s
17. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 42m 42.140s
18. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Avintia) 42m 43.879s
19. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 42m 43.957s
20. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 42m 51.747s
21. Broc Parkes AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART)* 42m 58.592s
22. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Avintia)* 43m 7.639s
Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) DNF
*Rookie
Championship standings
1 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team 225
2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 148
3 Valentino Rossi Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 141
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team 99
5 Jorge Lorenzo Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 97
6 Aleix Espargaro NGM Forward Racing 77
7 Pol Espargaro Monster Yamaha Tech 3 67
8 Andrea Iannone Pramac Racing 62
9 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda MotoGP 56
10 Alvaro Bautista GO&FUN Gresini Honda 50
11 Bradley Smith Monster Yamaha Tech 3 48
12 Scott Redding GO&FUN Honda Gresini 33
13 Nicky Hayden Drive M7 Aspar 29
14 Cal Crutchlow Ducati Team 28
15 Hiroshi Aoyama Drive M7 Aspar 28
16 Yonny Hernandez Emergy T.I. Pramac Racing 27
17 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 18
18 Colin Edwards NGM Forward Racing 8
19 Michele Pirro Ducati Team 7
20 Broc Parkes Paul Bird Motorsport 6
21 Danilo Petrucci IodaRacing Project 4
22 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing
Moto3 – Miller takes victory
Jack Miller, Red Bull KTM AJO factory rider was in determined form on the Sachsenring circuit on Sunday to take victory in Moto3 GP with a pole to finish win. South African Brad Binder challenged the Australian rider hard throughout the second half of the race and went on to finish second.
Miller got away cleanly from the start, was first into the first corner and settled down to hold the lead throughout the 27-lap race on what is the shortest circuit on the World Championship calendar.
Jack Miller: “Brad (Binder) was very strong. From the first lap I could see he was going all out, braking like an animal and getting very close to me. It was very stressful and I had to push hard on the last two laps to try to pass me. It was very important to get these 25 points. Now we have to ride intelligently at the next few tracks.”
An incident packed start to the race saw Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) go down early on lap one, with Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) also crashing shortly afterwards.
At the front a group of five riders kept out of trouble with Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Binder (Ambrogio Racing) and Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) joined in the podium chase by Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo).
Miller eventually crossed the finish line 0.180s ahead of Binder, as Miller extended his championship lead to 19 points and Binder earned a first ever podium. Lightweight class veteran Masbou was third for just the second podium of his decade long career.
A mistake by Marquez late in the race meant he could only eventually finish fourth, whilst a much improved showing from Kent took him to fifth.
In their team’s home race SaxoPrint-RTG’s Efren Vazquez and John McPhee were sixth and seventh, with Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team), Matteo Ferrari (San Carlo Team Italia) and Juanfran Guevara (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3) completing the top ten.
Substitute Gabriel Rodrigo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) crashed on the first lap and was able to remount, with Livio Loi (Marc VDS Racing Team) doing brilliantly to stay upright as Rodrigo touched his bike – only for Loi to later retire due to a mechanical fault.
As the race progressed Dutch pair Scott Deroue (RW Racing GP) and Bryan Schouten (CIP) went down together, with Schouten reacting angrily. Andrea Locatelli (San Carlo Team Italia), Gabriel Ramos (Kiefer Racing) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Ongetta-AirAsia) also crashed mid-race.
Enea Bastianini (Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3) went down early but was able to remount and score a point in 15th.
Towards the end of the race Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra Racing) and Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) both went down together as Hanika lost the front, with Niccolo Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN) also crashing in the final stages.
Moto3 Results
1. Jack Miller AUS Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 39m 26.927s
2. Brad Binder RSA Ambrogio Racing (Mahindra) 39m 27.107s
3. Alexis Masbou FRA Ongetta-Rivacold (Honda) 39m 28.046s
4. Alex Marquez SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 39m 28.107s
5. Danny Kent GBR Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo (Husqvarna) 39m 28.217s
6. Efren Vazquez SPA SaxoPrint-RTG (Honda) 39m 53.158s
7. John McPhee GBR SaxoPrint-RTG (Honda) 39m 53.263s
8. Isaac Viñales SPA Calvo Team (KTM) 39m 53.401s
9. Matteo Ferrari ITA San Carlo Team Italia (Mahindra) 39m 53.510s
10. Juanfran Guevara SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 (Kalex-KTM) 39m 53.662s
11. Jakub Kornfeil CZE Calvo Team (KTM) 39m 53.800s
12. Philipp Oettl GER Interwetten Paddock Moto3 (Kalex-KTM) 39m 53.936s
13. Arthur Sissis AUS Mahindra Racing (Mahindra) 39m 54.232s
14. Eric Granado BRA Calvo Team (KTM) 39m 57.011s
15. Enea Bastianini ITA Junior Team GO&FUN Moto3 (KTM) 40m 12.052s
16. Alessandro Tonucci ITA CIP (Mahindra) 40m 12.466s
17. Jules Danilo FRA Ambrogio Racing (Mahindra) 40m 12.952s
18. Hafiq Azmi MAL SIC-AJO (KTM) 40m 13.037s
19. Luca Grünwald GER Kiefer Racing (Kalex-KTM) 40m 23.714s
20. Ana Carrasco SPA RW Racing GP (Kalex-KTM) 40m 24.076s
21. Maximilian Kappler GER SaxoPrint RTG (FTR) 40m 36.239s
22. Gabriel Rodrigo ARG Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo (Husqvarna) 1 lap
23. Kevin Hanus GER Fai Rent-A-Jet (Honda) 1 lap
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