Marc Marquez wins German MotoGP, extends championship lead over brother Alex
Marc Marquez proved once again why he is known as the ‘King of Sachsenring’ when the Ducati rider marked his 200th MotoGP start by winning the German Grand Prix on Sunday in a race that became a test of survival after only 10 riders finished.
Marquez’s ninth MotoGP victory at the Sachsenring stretched his championship lead over brother Alex, who finished second, to 83 points while Marc’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia finished third to sit 147 points behind.
Alex had started fifth on the grid and took second in his 100th MotoGP start despite still recovering from a fractured hand he suffered at the Dutch Grand Prix two weeks ago which required surgery.
Several riders crashed over the course of the race, especially at turn one — including VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi when they were in second place.
But the day belonged to Marc as he marked his latest triumph at his favourite hunting ground by standing on his bike and doing a jig as he passed the chequered flag — a fourth straight weekend where he had won both the sprint and the race.
“One more (win at the Sachsenring) was super special. From the beginning, I felt good, the confidence when I started the weekend was super high because we were coming from three victories in a row,” Marc said.
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“We are in an incredible moment. Now we can say that half the season is done. Now (the second) half we still need to be super concentrated.”
Marc had clinched his seventh pole position of the season on Saturday before winning a wet sprint despite a mistake at the first turn, but this time he had the dream start to take the lead into turn one ahead of Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio.
As Marc slowly but surely started to stretch his lead, he was unaware of the battles for position behind him as Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio swapped places while Alex and Pedro Acosta fought for fourth place on the sweeping corners.