Another win for Marquez at Sachsenring

Marc Marquez charges to yet another win

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) stood on the top step of the podium again at the Pramac Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, but it wasn’t a straight forward victory for the Championship leader.

Looking strictly at the numbers, today Marc took a second consecutive win from pole, his fifth victory this season, his 40th MotoGP success, and his 66th across three classes, extending his Championship lead over Valentino Rossi to 46 points with 10 races remaining. In addition, his ninth win at Sachsenring came after nine consecutive poles here, and in his 99th MotoGP race, at the season’s ninth round.

“Today was an incredible victory," explained Marquez. “You can say ‘oh another victory at Sachsenring’ but it’s not another victory; every year I have more pressure, every year it’s more difficult – especially this year, we had the whole weekend in dry conditions, everybody can prepare for race so well. It was very, very tough. If you look at the lap times, the first 20 laps we were just there in the same tenth. So, it was crucial to be on the same line every lap and we did a really good job."

In a race where tire choice was a major talking point, the number 93 opted for the soft rear compound, incredibly making it last the full 30 laps without a serious drop in performance. “During the race, I tried to manage the tires, this was the first priority," said the Spaniard.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]“I started and was able to push but I said ‘okay, be calm’. I caught Lorenzo and overtook him, I opened a small gap but then I saw Valentino was coming very, very fast. So, then when he was just 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, I said ‘okay, now it’s time to push’ and then, with 4 laps to go, I gave everything. I used the tire and it was my fastest lap of the race and I opened a good gap."

The reigning World Champion now moves 46 points clear of his closest rival in the Championship standings – the number 46 of Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) – after his fifth victory of the season. But he is wary of the two Yamahas getting quicker and wants to rectify the two non-scores he’s already had this season.

“It was important to take this victory before the summer break because we were working very hard this first part of the season," commented the six-time World Champion. “We’ve won many races, but we made two mistakes, two zeroes and we cannot accept this. We need to keep improving because Yamaha riders are very fast. Every time, faster and faster. We’ll see what happens in the second half of the season but, at the moment, time to take a rest and time to prepare the next 10 races."

Next up for Marquez is a trip to the Czech Republic and the Brno circuit, a track he took victory at last season despite the Hondas struggling there every year. “I’m only thinking about the party tonight! Brno will be hard. It’s a racetrack where we struggle every year. For this reason, we did a test before this race to try to be ready for that race weekend. We will see but it looks like Yamaha and Ducati are getting stronger and stronger. With Honda we need to do another step because they are very fast."

Quotes

Marc Marquez

Marquez gets beat at the start by Lorenzo and Petrucci

“Of course I’m very happy, as nine wins in a row here is incredible! But every year the pressure increases, because beginning on Thursday, everyone starts asking about winning on Sunday! Anyway, we have the experience to handle that as well. Today I expected the race to have different phases, with the first tire drop happening after around nine laps and a final one seven to five laps from the end. I was prepared to manage the different situations, but in the beginning it wasn’t easy because my start wasn’t perfect. I expected that Lorenzo might pass me but not Petrucci.

"I lost two positions and then overtaking them wasn’t easy. When I did it, I started to push in order to pull a gap but without being ‘crazy’ so that I could manage the tire consumption until the end of the race. But then they signaled me that Valentino was closing in very fast, and when I saw 0.6 in the board I understood that I had to push again and completely use my tires for two or three laps, so I did my fastest lap of the race.

"I was able to open a gap again and then manage it. Then, when I was celebrating I saw a marshal with a No. 26 cap, so I took it and went to celebrate in front of the fans because I think this weekend Dani was the protagonist, and we’ll miss him. We and Honda are working very well and we need to continue like this in the second part of the Championship with the same feeling we’ve had so far."