MotoGP™: Márquez (Repsol Honda Team / Michelin), King of the ‘Ring

The 2018 MotoGPTM World Championship’s trip to Germany saw Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team/Michelin) collect his ninth straight win at the Sachsenring and his sixth there in motorcycle racing’s premier series, all from pole position. The Spaniard was joined on the Pramac Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland podium by Movistar Yamaha MotoGP/Michelin’s Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales. 

Márquez followed up a record pole-winning effort of 1m20.270s with a cautious start that led to him spending the first four of the race’s 30 laps in third position as Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team/Michelin) did the early frontrunning.

Competing on hard and soft MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear, the world champion eased into second spot on Lap 5 before taking command after passing Lorenzo at the end of Lap 13. He then posted a string of fastest race laps (best of the afternoon: 1m21.643s, Lap 22) to pull more than two seconds clear by the chequered flag.

Rossi (medium MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear) turned in a faultless performance to clinch the silver medal, ahead of team-mate Viñales who climbed four places in the late stages of the race. The Yamaha rider’s choice of medium and soft tyres front and rear made it three different combinations of MICHELIN Power Slicks for the three best-placed riders.

Danilo Petrucci (Alma Prama Racing/Michelin), who failed to win qualifying by just 25-thousandths of a second, was fourth over the line, ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team/Michelin) who picked up his best result of the season so far.

Lorenzo (soft and medium MICHELIN Power Slick Softs front and rear) led for the first 12 laps but then lost pace and had to settle for sixth.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team/Michelin), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team/Michelin), who announced that he is to retire at the end of 2018, Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Monster Yamaha/Michelin) and Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing/Michelin) rounded out the day’s top 10.

Six different tyre combinations were used in Germany and only the hard rear MICHELIN Power Slick wasn’t selected by any of the riders.

Márquez (165 points) has extended his lead at the top of the provisional standings to 46 and 56 points respectively over Rossi and Viñales ahead of the summer break.

Next round: Czech Republic, Brno (August 3-5, 2018)