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MotoGP: Marquez dominates in Honda one-two at Sachsenring

Reigning champion Marquez had won from pole at the track every year since his 125cc title-winning campaign in 2010.
3 min read13 Jul '15
Staff WriterStaff Writer
2K+ views

Marc Marquez finally took his second win of the 2015 MotoGP season by dominating the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring for Honda.

Reigning champion Marquez had won from pole at the track every year since his 125cc title-winning campaign in 2010, and that streak looked safe when he topped every practice session and claimed pole this weekend.

It wasn't totally straightforward for Marquez, who was jumped by Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa at the lights and ended up in third as Jorge Lorenzo swept around the outside of them both on his Yamaha.

Honda made a unique choice of standard hard front Bridgestones on a day when everyone else chose the softer 'Sachsenring special' asymmetric front, potentially setting up a battle of tyre strategies.

In the event, the Hondas were simply faster in the race as they had been for much of the weekend.

Marquez quickly demoted Pedrosa to third and by the end of lap five he was through on Lorenzo into the lead.

From there Marquez quickly escaped, leaving the Yamahas to fight over second.

It took repeated attempts before Rossi was able to overtake Lorenzo, and even once clear he did not have the pace to keep up with Marquez.

Instead he had to focus on Pedrosa, who also passed Lorenzo and then made it a Honda one-two by passing Rossi at half-distance.

Rossi clung on behind Pedrosa until the final laps before settling for third, which still increased his championship lead to 13 points as Lorenzo drifted away in fourth.

Andrea Iannone completed the top five after a lonely race on the best of the Ducatis.

His team-mate Andrea Dovizioso crashed out of eighth, while underdog qualifying star Yonny Hernandez tumbled back from fifth to 12th on the Pramac Ducati.

Britons Bradley Smith and Cal Crutchlow were sixth and seventh.

The biggest dice of the race was over eighth place, a battle involving six bikes in the middle stages.

Pol Espargaro eventually won it ahead of Danilo Petrucci.

The Suzukis were left squabbling over 10th place, a battle Aleix Espargaro by just 0.021 seconds over Maverick Vinales at the line.

RESULTS - 30 LAPS:

Marc MarquezHondaHonda41m01.087s
2
Daniel PedrosaHondaHonda2.226s
3
Valentino RossiYamahaYamaha5.608s
4
Jorge LorenzoYamahaYamaha9.928s
5
Andrea IannoneDucatiDucati20.785s
6
Bradley SmithTech 3Yamaha23.215s
7
Cal CrutchlowLCRHonda29.881s
8
Pol EspargaroTech 3Yamaha34.953s
9
Danilo PetrucciPramac RacingDucati35.875s
10
Aleix EspargaroSuzukiSuzuki37.253s
11
Maverick VinalesSuzukiSuzuki37.274s
12
Yonny HernandezPramac RacingDucati42.081s
13
Hector BarberaAvintia RacingDucati48.611s
14
Alvaro BautistaAprilia GresiniAprilia50.687s
15
Jack MillerLCRHonda53.769s
16
Nicky HaydenAsparHonda58.921s
17
Eugene LavertyAsparHonda1m02.738s
18
Alex de AngelisIodaRacing ProjectART/Aprilia1m03.122s
19
Loris BazForward RacingYamaha Forward1m11.162s
20
Michael LavertyAprilia GresiniAprilia1m15.910s
-
Claudio CortiForward RacingYamaha ForwardRetirement
-
Andrea DoviziosoDucatiDucatiRetirement
-
Hiroshi AoyamaAB MotoracingHondaRetirement
-
Mike Di MeglioAvintia RacingDucatiRetirement
-
Scott ReddingMarc VDSHondaRetirement

RIDERS' STANDINGS:

Valentino Rossi179
2
Jorge Lorenzo166
3
Andrea Iannone118
4
Marc Marquez114
5
Andrea Dovizioso87
6
Bradley Smith87
7
Daniel Pedrosa67
8
Cal Crutchlow66
9
Pol Espargaro64
10
Maverick Vinales57
11
Danilo Petrucci51
12
Aleix Espargaro44
13
Yonny Hernandez32
14
Scott Redding30
15
Hector Barbera19
16
Loris Baz14
17
Alvaro Bautista13
18
Jack Miller12
19
Stefan Bradl9
20
Michele Pirro8
21
Nicky Hayden8
22
Eugene Laverty7
23
Hiroshi Aoyama5
24
Mike Di Meglio2
25
Alex de Angelis1

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