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Spain’s Marc Marquez reckons he could have zoomed to an even greater win at the German MotoGP race at the weekend.

His start-to-finish win at the Sachsenring circuit, near Dresden, was impressive, but he said he was wary of suffering the same fate as he did at the Americas MotoGP earlier this year.

The Repsol Honda rider dominated to a 10th straight pole position and win in Germany by leading every lap to clinch victory by 4.5 seconds over Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales. Marquez also produced a new lap record at Sachsenring to complete the perfect weekend as he extends his MotoGP world championship lead going into the summer break to 58 points on nearest challenger Andrea Dovizioso.

Having notched up lap record pace, Marquez admits he could have gone even faster but opted to conserve a manageable time gap to the chasing pack in order to minimise his own risks.

Earlier this year Marquez crashed out while comfortably leading the Americas MotoGP round in Austin having continued pushing to open up a dominant gap at the front.

“I pushed more or less for 10 laps, then I tried to save the tyres for 10 more laps, and then the last 10 laps it is true that I had more [pace] but in the end Austin was in my head,” Marquez said. “I knew it didn’t matter as I needed three or four seconds of an advantage and then I tried to manage that.

“I didn’t want to increase the advantage so I managed it. I feel really good with the bike and I took that profit.

“The good thing is when we struggle we are still there as we have that small advantage and when we feel good we can win the race in this way.”

Having pulled off his pre-race strategy without any trouble, Marquez says his only headache was opting for the medium rear Michelin tyre having anticipated the hard rear being the best pick for the race.

But following overnight rain and cooler track temperatures on Sunday compared to the rest of the weekend, Marquez felt the medium rear tyre was the right one as he could manage the tyre life in the colder conditions.

“I was convinced about taking the hard rear but then after warm-up and on the grid we picked the medium and that was the correct choice as I felt good from the beginning until the end so I am very happy,” he said.

“My plan was to lead the race from the beginning until the end, try to just warm the tyres for the first two laps and then push in the third lap and that is exactly what I did as planned. That’s exactly what we spoke about with the team. We did a great job and the Repsol Honda team worked in a good way.”

Marquez has matched Valentino Rossi’s all-time record of 10 wins at one circuit, which the Italian has achieved at Mugello, and maintains his record of finishing every race in the top two so far this season with the exception of the Americas round when he crashed out while leading.

Photo courtesy Honda

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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:

Results from the German GP at Sachsenring:

  1. Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V)        41m 8.276s
  2. Maverick Viñales SPA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)    +4.587s
  3. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V)   +7.741s
  4. Danilo Petrucci ITA Mission Winnow Ducati (GP19) +16.577s
  5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Mission Winnow Ducati (GP19)         +16.669s
  6. Jack Miller AUS Pramac Ducati (GP19)  +16.836s
  7. Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +17.156s
  8. Valentino Rossi ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)    +19.110s
  9. Franco Morbidelli ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)   +20.634s
  10. Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V)        +22.708s
  11. Tito Rabat SPA Reale Avintia Ducati (GP18)  +26.345s
  12. Pol Espargaro SPA Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) +26.574s
  13. Andrea Iannone ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)         +32.753s
  14. Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V)   +32.925s
  15. Karel Abraham CZE Reale Avintia Ducati (GP18)  +37.934s
  16. Hafizh Syahrin MAL Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)   +41.615s
  17. Francesco Bagnaia ITA Pramac Ducati (GP18)  +56.189s
  18. Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)   +57.377s

Aleix Espargaro   SPA   Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)      DNF

Alex Rins    SPA   Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)        DNF

Johann Zarco      FRA   Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) DNF

Fabio Quartararo FRA   Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)   DNF

 

MotoGP Championship standings:

  1. Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V)        185
  2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Mission Winnow Ducati (GP19)       127   (-58)
  3. Danilo Petrucci ITA Mission Winnow Ducati (GP19) 121   (-64)
  4. Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)        101   (-84)
  5. Maverick Viñales SPA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)    85     (-100)
  6. Valentino Rossi ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)    80     (-105)
  7. Jack Miller AUS Pramac Ducati (GP19)  70     (-115)
  8. Fabio Quartararo FRA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)   67     (-118)
  9. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V)   67     (-118)
  10. Pol Espargaro SPA Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 56 (-129)
  11. Franco Morbidelli ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)   52     (-133)
  12. Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V)   50     (-135)
  13. Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)        39     (-146)
  14. Aleix Espargaro SPA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)      31     (-154)
  15. Andrea Iannone ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)      21     (-164)
  16. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V)        19     (-166)
  17. Johann Zarco FRA Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 16 (-169)
  18. Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)   15     (-170)
  19. Tito Rabat SPA Reale Avintia Ducati (GP18)  14     (-171)
  20. Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V)        12     (-173)
  21. Francesco Bagnaia ITA Pramac Ducati (GP18)  11     (-174)
  22. Michele Pirro ITA Mission Winnow Ducati (GP19) 9       (-176)
  23. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)        3       (-182)
  24. Karel Abraham CZE Reale Avintia Ducati (GP18)  3       (-182)
  25. Hafizh Syahrin MAL Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)   3       (-182)

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