Sachsenring MotoGP: Marquez dominates for 10th German GP win
Honda's Marc Marquez took a dominant victory in MotoGP's German Grand Prix, winning at the Sachsenring for the 10th consecutive year, as closest rival Alex Rins crashed out.
Marquez had a sluggish getaway from pole and Fabio Quartararo was in front of him as they entered Turn 1, but the Honda rider outbraked Quartararo on the outside line to lead.
Quartararo lost several places in the first couple of corners and was running only sixth when he crashed out at Turn 3 next time around while trying to pass Ducati's Danilo Petrucci.
Marquez found himself under severe pressure by Maverick Vinales instead in the opening couple of laps, but the Yamaha man soon started to drop off and was overtaken by Rins.
But Rins couldn't stay close to Marquez either, as the championship leader extended his lead to the three-second mark.
With Marquez maintaining the gap, Rins then made a mistake and crashed at Turn 11, retiring for the second race in a row.
Marquez's lead became five seconds after that and he cruised to the finish to score his fifth win of the season by 4.5s and end the first half of the season with a 58-point advantage.
Vinales was closely followed by Cal Crutchlow for the majority of the race but the Briton couldn't find a way past, and the Yamaha rider thus secured second place.
Crutchlow still scored his first podium since the Qatar season opener despite nursing a fractured right knee.
Fourth place was hotly contested among the three Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso, Petrucci and Jack Miller.
Petrucci was in front for most of the race but Dovizioso passed him with three laps to go, forcing his teammate wide and allowing Miller through as well.
But Petrucci then re-passed Miller and also Dovizioso to finish fourth, 0.062s ahead of his teammate.
Miller finished sixth, with Joan Mir taking seventh. The Suzuki man had kicked off a late-race charge, but couldn't make his way past the Ducatis in the end.
Valentino Rossi couldn't make a lot of progress from 11th on the grid and settled for eighth ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli.
Aleix Espargaro threw away a top 10 result with a late crash at Turn 1, allowing Stefan Bradl, Jorge Lorenzo's replacement, to finish 10th in his home race.
KTM's Johann Zarco and Miguel Oliveira both fell at Turn 3 early on.
Race results:
| Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 93 |  Marc Marquez | Honda | 30 | |
| 2 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 30 | 4.587 |
| 3 | 35 |  Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 30 | 7.741 |
| 4 | 9 |  Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 30 | 16.577 |
| 5 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 30 | 16.669 |
| 6 | 43 |  Jack Miller | Ducati | 30 | 16.836 |
| 7 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 30 | 17.156 |
| 8 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 30 | 19.110 |
| 9 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 30 | 20.634 |
| 10 | 6 |  Stefan Bradl | Honda | 30 | 22.708 |
| 11 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati | 30 | 26.345 |
| 12 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 30 | 26.574 |
| 13 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 30 | 32.753 |
| 14 | 30 |  Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 30 | 32.925 |
| 15 | 17 |  Karel Abraham | Ducati | 30 | 37.934 |
| 16 | 55 |  Hafizh Syahrin | KTM | 30 | 41.615 |
| 17 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 30 | 56.189 |
| 18 | 88 |  Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 30 | 57.377 |
| 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 28 | 2 Laps | |
| 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 18 | 12 Laps | |
| 5 |  Johann Zarco | KTM | 2 | 28 Laps | |
| 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1 | 29 Laps | |
| View full results | |||||
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About this article
| Series | MotoGP |
| Event | German GP |
| Sub-event | Race |
| Author | David Gruz |
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