Honda was back to the best in Germany and Marquez managed to stay on the bike to take a much needed MotoGP win
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Marquez is back
Marc Marquez takes his second victory of the season in a Repsol Honda 1-2. That makes it 6 victories in a row at the Sachsenring for Marc Marquez, all of which were won from pole position.
When Marquez came here a year ago, he was chasing his 9th consecutive win of the season. At this point in 2015 Marquez’s title hopes are weak but the Spaniard’s desire to win is anything but. Now that Marquez appears to be back on form, he’s showing no signs of making things easy for the Movistar Yamaha duo in the second half of the season. Marquez said: “From the beginning I felt good and when I had the gap I just tried to manage it. I’m happy because this weekend we’ve been always first and it has been a long time since I had that. It’s a good result to go on holidays with, but I want to keep getting better.”
Dani Pedrosa has a very good record here in Germany too, having won here 6 times in total across MotoGP and 125cc classes. Before the race he said that if he could get a good start and stay at the front for the first few laps, it would make all the difference. This proved to be true as the Spaniard joins team mate Marc Marquez on the podium, securing a 1-2 for the Repsol Honda team. However Pedrosa said the turning point came at half distance: “When the tank emptied at the middle of the race I was comfortable and I went straight past Jorge. Then I went about catching Rossi but he wasn’t easy to pass. On corner exit the Yamaha is strong. Then I made the move and had to push at the end. I had to push a little more than him as he was really trying!”
Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) finished in third place, which is enough to increase his championship lead, so Rossi had a lot to be happy about: “I think that Dani had something in his pocket – I was at the limit with a constant rhythm, but at one point he was able to pull out 2 very fast laps, I tried to battle but he was too quick. Anyway it’s another podium, I gained 3 points on Jorge [Lorenzo] which is important for the championship. We know that we always suffer here against the Hondas, so we’ll wait for a better track for the M1!”
With Rossi’s team mate Jorge Lorenzo coming in 4th place, the Movistar Yamaha duo did enough to maintain their positions at the top of the championship standings, with Rossi enjoying a 13 point lead over Lorenzo.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) claimed 5th position, followed by British riders Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Cal Crutchlow (CWM-LCR Honda) in 6th and 7th respectively.
Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar) complete the top 10.
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Simeón takes first ever Moto2™ win
The Belgian rider Xavier Simeón (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) claims his first ever victory in his sixth Moto2 season. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) finished in second place, followed by Álex Rins (Páginas Amarillas HP 40) in third.
Zarco started from pole for the third consecutive race, but the Frenchman dropped down to 3rd after turn 1, as Simeón started as he meant to go on, firing off the line to push up in to second. Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) took the lead through turn 1, but Zarco quickly regained the lead.
The entire Moto2 grid opted to use the medium front tyre. However with Morbidelli choosing a softer rear tyre than Zarco, the Italtrans Racing Team rider was able to move in to second and keep the pressure on Zarco early in the race, but he dropped back in the second half as the tyre began to go off. As a result he was overtaken by Xavier Simeón at turn 12 with 9 laps to go, as Simeón started his push to catch Zarco which resulted in Simeón passing Zarco with 4 laps left to go.
Simeón held off Zarco to take the win. He was overjoyed to claim a long overdue first victory, also making him the first Belgian to win since 1983. He said: “I made a good race and a good pace, I was confident because my bike was very good all weekend. A lot of times in the past I’ve started from the first row but I didn’t take the opportunity to get on the podium, so this time I thought ok, I’ll take it.”
Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) didn’t have so much luck today. On the last lap he running in 3rd place, only to be taken out by Morbidelli on turn 13 – the last corner – after the Italian came in too hot in a final attempt to get on the podium. Neither rider finished the race.
After the race Zarco congratulated the amazing performance of the Belgian, but came away feeling like the real winner today. Between his 2nd place finish and Rabat’s crash, his championship lead is more secure than ever: “I stayed close to him planning something for the last corner, but he was really constant and strong, he did well to catch me and win. It’s bad for Tito, but at the end I am also a winner today because my advantage in the championship is bigger – the target was reached and I’m happy.”
Simone Corsi (Athiná Forward Racing) finished in 4th place, ahead of Briton Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing) and Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Intewetten) in 5th and 6th respectively.
Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Athiná Forward Racing), Julián Simón (QMMF Racing Team) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten) complete the top 10.
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Kent storms to Moto3™ victory in Germany
It’s safe to say that this Moto3 round belongs to Danny Kent. The Briton topped the timesheets in every single session this weekend, starting from pole for the third time in 2015 to take his 5th victory of the season after dropping the rest of the pack early. No one was able to come close to the championship leader’s pace around the 2.28 mile German circuit.
Kent’s victory comes with extra honours: he is the first British rider to win a lightweight-class (125cc/Moto3) Grand Prix at the Sachsenring since Dave Simmonds won around the original road circuit in 1969. He’s also the first Honda rider to win a lightweight-class GP in Germany since Marco Melandri won the 125cc GP at the Sachsenring in 1999.
Kent said: “I didn’t have a great start, the first few laps I was sliding a bit, but the tyre got better after about 5 laps. We’ve been strong all weekend which gave me great confidence and I knew I had a chance to pull away. I’m really happy to get another win and extend our championship lead.”
Kent’s team mate Efrén Vázquez came in second place making it a Leopard Racing 1-2, with Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) completing the podium in Germany.
The majority of riders opted for a medium front and rear, with Niccolò Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold) risking it with a soft front. He finished in 5th place, behind Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) who was denied the podium in a last lap battle with Bastianini that came down to a photo finish.
Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0) came in 6th, followed by Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in 7th. Alexis Masbou (SaxoPrint RTG), Andrea Locatelli (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) and Niklas Ajo (RBA Racing Team) complete the top 10.
Quartararo was bumped up to the front row for the race start despite qualifying in 4th, since Enea Bastianini’s penalty knocked him down the grid. Eleven Moto3 riders had their start positions moved due to penalties given for riding slow close to the racing line during qualifying. However Quartararo’s race ended early when he high sided coming out of the final corner (turn 13) with 21 laps still to go, thankfully escaping uninjured.
Hiroki Ono (Leopard Racing) crashed out on the first lap. Francesco Bagnaia (Mapfre Team Mahindra) also retired from the race after his bike cut out due to unidentified technical problems.
The German wild card rider Maximilian Kappler (SaxoPrint RTG) crashed out of the race at turn 10, ending a difficult weekend in which he was also taken out by Danny Kent during qualifying practice.
