MotoGP – Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) strikes back with Sachsenring win.

27-iker-lecuona_dsc1446.gallery_thumbnail

43-jack-miller_dsc3623.gallery_thumbnail

41-aleix-espargaro_dsc3958.gallery_thumbnail

30-takaaki-nakagami_dsc2368_0.gallery_thumbnail

20-fabio-quartararo_dsc1676.gallery_thumbnail

09-danilo-petrucci-73-alex-marquez_dsc3494_0.gallery_thumbnail

43-jack-miller_dsc7460.gallery_thumbnail

12-maverick-vinales_dsc4171_0.gallery_thumbnail

12-maverick-vinales_dsc3821.gallery_thumbnail

20-fabio-quartararo_dsc4298_0.gallery_thumbnail

43-jack-miller_dsc3987.gallery_thumbnail

46-valentino-rossi_dsc3352.gallery_thumbnail

93-marc-marquez_dsc4231.gallery_thumbnail

43-jack-miller_dsc4055.gallery_thumbnail

93-marc-marquez_dsc4465.gallery_thumbnail

93-marc-marquez_gp_9620.gallery_thumbnail

The Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland was a thrilling encounter right from the start, with a rain threat looming large over the Sachsenring. In one of the most emotional Grand Prix in recent years, it would be one of the most sensational comeback stories in sport as the King of the Ring Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took victory after 581 days since his last, with a topsy-turvy race right from the start. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) fought his way through to challenge Marquez but had to settle for second, whilst Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took a solid and crucial third.

In what was an electric start, it was Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who blasted into the lead to grab the holeshot, whilst Marc Marquez started pushing Fabio Quartararo out wide for second, leaving the Frenchman down in fourth behind pole-man Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing). Into Turn 13 for the final time and Marquez made his move for the lead, passing Espargaro and leading over the line. The two would trade places at Turns 12 and 13 on a couple of occasions in the coming laps, whilst Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) would make his way through on Quartararo at Turn 1.

Further down the field, it was a disaster for Danilo Petrucci (Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing) and Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) as both crashed together at Turn 1 on Lap 4. They would soon be joined though in a list of retirees as Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Gresini Team) suffered a fast Turn 10 crash as his front-end washed out. All three riders were able to get up and walk away, making it back to the pits. On Lap 9, the white flag was waved, along with the white flag with the red cross, indicating that it was raining and that if the riders wanted to, they could come into the pits and change bikes and thus tyres. At this moment, Marquez began to pull out a gap to the opposition as risked everything to put time into the chasing pack, headed by Aleix Espargaro, although the Aprilia rider was acting as a cork in the bottle as the opposition queued up behind him whilst Marquez leapt away at the front. However, soon enough, Miller and then Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) would come on through, with Oliveira now on fire as he picked his way through the pack, including pole-sitter Zarco and Aleix Espargaro.

Oliveira then made his move for second on Miller, and now set his sights on Marc Marquez out front, with the gap constantly hovering around 1.8s, although with ten laps to go, it was now coming down through the one second bracket. Further back, it was now Fabio Quartararo who had picked his way through into third, but another man on the move was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), as he carved his way into contention by getting ahead of Zarco, then Aleix Espargaro and then Jack Miller with just four laps to go.

Meanwhile, in the battle for the lead, it had briefly come under one second but in the final three laps, Marquez broke Oliveira’s will and pushed the gap back to over one and a half seconds, and now, he was in full flow, riding like he’d never been away as he went to end a 581 day wait for victory at a circuit he had been undefeated at since his graduation to MotoGP™ in 2013, and even before that, winning everything he’d competed at in Germany in 2010. Further behind, it was now a battle over fifth between the factory Ducati teammates of Miller and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), with the Italian storming through the field in the latter third of the race. At Turn 9, Bagnaia made his move on the final lap, demoting Miller to sixth.

Despite the action behind, the emotions were only just beginning as one of sport’s greatest comebacks was about to be completed. After all of the hard work to be fit again, to get back racing and to go in pursuit of more MotoGP™ success, Marc Marquez’s comeback to the top had been complete and the wait was over. Across the line, Marquez took his first victory since Valencia in 2019 to finally stand on not just the podium again, but to stand on the top step. It was a valiant effort from Miguel Oliveira, who took a stunning second, his third consecutive top-two result, whilst third place went to Fabio Quartararo, who fought back to extend his Championship lead to 22 points over Johann Zarco. Brad Binder took fourth ahead of Bagnaia, Miller and Aleix Espargaro.

Pole-man Johann Zarco could only come home in eighth place, one place ahead of Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who put in a strong performance to come up from 16th on the grid. Completing the top ten was Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team), with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Avintia) completing the points, just ahead of Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) and Iker Lecuona (Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing). It was an abysmal day for Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), as both failed to score points, with Viñales finishing last.

Top 10 after 30-lap MotoGP™ race:

1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) 41’07.243
2. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) +1.610
3. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) +6.772
4. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) +7.922
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) +8.591
6. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) +9.086
7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Gresini Team) +9.371
8. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) +11.439
9. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) +11.625
10. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) +14.769.

LIQUI MOLY MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX DEUTSCHLAND

MotoGP Race Classification 2021

Sachsenring, Sunday, June 20, 2021

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	160.6	41’07.243
2	20	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	160.5	+1.610
3	16	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	160.2	+6.772
4	13	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	160.1	+7.922
5	11	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	160.1	+8.591
6	10	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	160.1	+9.086
7	9	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	160.0	+9.371
8	8	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	159.9	+11.439
9	7	36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	159.9	+11.625
10	6	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	159.7	+14.769
11	5	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	159.6	+16.803
12	4	89	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	159.5	+16.915
13	3	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	159.4	+19.217
14	2	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	159.2	+22.300
15	1	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY VR46 Avintia	Ducati	159.1	+23.615
16		23	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Avintia Esponsorama	Ducati	159.1	+23.738
17		27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	159.1	+23.946
18		21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	159.1	+24.414
19		12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	159.0	+24.715
Not Classified
		32	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	157.7	25 Laps
		9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	157.9	26 Laps
		73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	157.8	26 Laps

MotoGP World Standing 2021

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	FRA	131
2	Johann ZARCO	Ducati	FRA	109
3	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	100
4	Francesco BAGNAIA	Ducati	ITA	99
5	Joan MIR	Suzuki	SPA	85
6	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	75
7	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	74
8	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	56
9	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	53
10	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	41
11	Franco MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	ITA	40
12	Pol ESPARGARO	Honda	SPA	35
13	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	34
14	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	28
15	Enea BASTIANINI	Ducati	ITA	26
16	Alex MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	25
17	Jorge MARTIN	Ducati	SPA	23
18	Danilo PETRUCCI	KTM	ITA	23
19	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	17
20	Luca MARINI	Ducati	ITA	14
21	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	13
22	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	11
23	Lorenzo SAVADORI	Aprilia	ITA	4
24	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	3
25	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	1

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com