MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez stormed to his seventh straight victory at the Sachsenring in Germany on Sunday after perfecting his tire call amid drying conditions.
Marquez eased to pole position on Saturday, but dropped back at the start on wet tires as Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso led early on.
As the track began to dry, riders made the switch over to intermediate tires, but Marquez opted to bide his time until conditions were suitable for slicks.
Marquez dropped all the way to 14th after pitting and switching bikes, only to find four seconds per lap on the rest of the field, allowing him to scythe through to first place with five laps to go.
From there, Marquez managed to ease home with a nine second advantage to extend his lead at the top of the riders’ championship.
The result continued Marquez’s winning streak at the Sachsenring, dating back to 2010 across all three classes of the MotoGP pyramid.
“At a certain point today, I thought my run at this circuit was going to come to an end, but in the end we succeeded and earned a very good result, especially considering how Valentino [Rossi] and Jorge [Lorenzo] finished the race,” Marquez said.
“I’m very happy with how we worked with the team today: they did a great job preparing my bike after my crash in the warm-up, and then in the race our strategy proved to be perfect.
“It was a very difficult race, with it being flag-to-flag and the track conditions so delicate. In the first part of the race, in the wet, I found things a little difficult.
“It’s always very difficult to decide when to change bikes, and perhaps we made our switch very early – I think I was the second rider to do so – but I decided to take a chance and it went well.
“We end the first half of the season with our homework done and off the back of a good race, but we must not forget to prepare well for the second half of the year.”
Marquez now stands 48 points clear of Jorge Lorenzo at the top of the standings after the Spaniard finished down in 15th place, leaving Germany with just a single point to show for his efforts. Rossi crossed the line down in eighth, meaning he stays third in the standings.
Cal Crutchlow bounced back from a Q1 elimination on Saturday to finish second ahead of Dovizioso, while Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone rounded out the top five.
Dani Pedrosa finished sixth ahead of Assen wet-dry winner Jack Miller, with Hector Barbera and Alvaro Bautista rounding out the top 10 behind Rossi.
