Will Marquez make it nine in a row at Sachsenring?

The last time Marc Marquez lost a race at the Sachsenring, the 125 and 250cc classes still existed, Valentino Rossi was in his first MotoGP title battle with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner was still racing for Ducati.

The year was 2009.

Since 2010, Marquez has won every race he has started at the tight and twisty German venue, beginning with a 125cc win, then two Moto2 victories, followed by a run of five MotoGP triumphs.

Marquez has also taken pole position on all eight occasions.

A ninth win in a row would extend an already dominant 41-point championship advantage heading into the summer break.

But having headed the closest top 15 in history last time at Assen, Marquez knows his rivals are ready to punish any weakness.

“The victory we scored at Assen was important because it was a race where it was incredibly easy to make a mistake but instead we were able to increase our advantage in the Championship," he said.

"Now we go to a very different circuit where we’re normally very strong, but every year is different; you could object that I often repeat this idea, but it’s true! 

"Weather could play an important role, as we’ve seen in the past: if it’s rainy or mixed, everything will change very quickly and you must be ready. 

"So we’ll see; we’ll go there and try to find our level and be strong from the start of the weekend. Then on Sunday we'll try and fight for the podium again.”

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa also has a strong record at the shortest circuit on the calendar.

The #26, who will finally reveal his 2019 plans this weekend, has taken six Sachsenring wins, including four in the premier-class.

"I look forward to the race at Sachsenring, a track that I like," said Pedrosa, who claimed a single point after a miserable weekend in Holland.

"In the second part of the race at Assen, we managed to lap at a better pace than we did during the rest of the weekend, so we’ll try and build on that at Sachsenring. 

"We also must improve our speed when we’re on new tyres in order to be faster in qualifying.”