Márquez wins and takes the lead of the MotoGP World Championship, with Crutchlow 2nd and Rossi 3rd

The MotoGP World Championship has raced its eighth round of the season at the Sachsenring Circuit, at a German Grand Prix marked by many absences, notably that of the injured Jorge Lorenzo, who was discharged from hospital that very day, and that of Dani Pedrosa, due to the drops in blood pressure and dizziness he has suffered since his crash yesterday at the German circuit; for safety reasons, the doctors and the rider himself have decided not to take any risks.

With this situation we had four men as favourites: Márquez, Bradl, Rossi and Crutchlow. The start was very good for Valentino Rossi and Stefan Bradl, while pole sitter Marc Márquez lost some positions but did not lose his composure. We also witnessed a great moment from Aleix Espargaró, who held third place with his CRT for several laps.

After the first two laps we saw Bradl start to push hard at the front, with Rossi glued to his rear wheel and Márquez overtaking Espargaró at the end of the straight. The CRT could not keep up with the pace of the factory bikes and was passed by Bautista and Crutchlow as well.

With this situation the German continued to dominate, with Rossi calmly riding behind him and Márquez studying the perfect place to overtake the 46. He managed it, got onto the home rider’s tail and delivered a sharp move to take the race lead, then began pushing with all his pace to open a gap. He left behind iL Dottore, who saw the situation and set to work to overtake Bradl, which he achieved, going after the 93. Crutchlow did the same.

Márquez pushed and rode off alone, opening a gap, while Rossi and Crutchlow fought an intense battle, in which the Briton finally managed to pass the Italian and set off after the 93. But Márquez was very strong today and controlled the laps until the end of the German round with great authority, knowing how to manage his rivals. Second victory for the Repsol rider in his first year in the premier class.

So the victory goes to Márquez, who takes the lead of the MotoGP World Championship with two points over Pedrosa, and 11 points over Lorenzo; Crutchlow finished 2nd and Rossi 3rd. Completing the top 10 are Bradl 4th, Bautista 5th, Smith 6th, Dovi 7th, Espargaró 8th, Hayden 9th and Pirro 10th, with Héctor Barberá 11th. Special mention for Espargaró and his CRT, who fought with Dovi’s Ducati until the last minute, and also a good day for Bautista with his 5th place.

Now on to Laguna Seca.

Photo | MotoGP Official website and teams