Marc Marquez wins the German MotoGP, makes it 11 in a row at Sachsenring
Marc Marquez has taken his first MotoGP win since returning to the sport following a broken right shoulder in July 2020.
The victory in Sachsenring means Marquez also extends his unbeaten race winning record in Germany to 11 - nine wins in the premier class.
Marquez looked like the Marquez of old as he created a gap early on and held off a charging Miguel Oliveira.
With the Jaws music cued, Oliveira did his utmost to reel in Marquez - and for many laps the Portuguese rider was able to chip away at the gap, but Marquez wasn’t going to be denied as he took MotoGP victory #58.
As the lights went green, it was Aleix Espargaro who made the best get-away as he led into turn one, however, a late lunge into turn 13 saw Marquez come across the line first.
Espargaro responded on lap two by regaining the lead into turn 12, but as was the case on lap one, Marquez snapped straight back at turn 13.
Behind Marquez and Espargaro, Jack Miller made the most of his pace advantage in sector one by getting past fellow Ducati rider Johann Zarco.
Then came the race winning moment as on lap eight there were white flags being waved as spots of rain appeared. Espargaro struggled the most out of anyone in the front group while Marquez immediately put the hammer-down and created a gap.
Miller and Oliveira saw the Spaniard getting away and reacted with a double overtake on the Aprilia man - not before a 1.5s gap appeared.
Espargaro managed to regroup and keep fourth place for several laps, but with 13 to go, Quartararo got ahead of him.
Quartararo then passed Miller for third with 11 laps to go, while Brad Binder got ahead of Zarco for sixth.
Out front, Marquez got his lead up to two seconds before Oliveira slowly reduced the gap. This was the case for an eight lap stretch before a one second interval became pretty consistent.
This was as close as the Catalunya winner got before Marquez reaffirmed his lead and won by 1.6 seconds.
Quartararo finished third and increased his championship lead as the Ducati’s of Miller and Zarco were only sixth and eighth. Francesco Bagnaia was instead the top Ducati in fifth after a great last few laps saw him get ahead of Zarco, Miller, and Espargaro.
Binder took his best finish of the 2021 season with fourth, while Joan Mir and Pol Espargaro rounded out the top ten.
Danilo Petrucci and Alex Marquez tangled on lap four going into turn one, which resulted in both riders crashing out. Lorenzo Savadori crashed out at turn ten on the following lap - becoming the third non finisher.
