Marquez takes Sachsenring MotoGP victory as Folger stars - MotorSportsTalk

Marc Marquez continued his incredible record at the Sachsenring by taking his eighth consecutive world championship victory in Sunday’s MotoGP race, albeit after a serious challenge from rookie Jonas Folger.

Marquez extended his pole record at the Sachsenring on Saturday after leading qualifying, and stayed out front in the early part of the race with Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa in tow.

After picking off Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo, Folger managed to fight past both Honda riders on his satellite Yamaha bike, hitting the head of the pack six laps in.

Folger’s hopes of a fairytale victory on home soil were dashed when he ran deep at Turn 1 five laps later, allowing Marquez to move back past.

The German rider stayed within sight of the leader through the remainder of the race and applied pressure, only for his tires to fade late on and leave him to settle for P2 at the flag.

The victory for Marquez continues his stunning record at the Sachsenring across all three rungs of the motorcycle world championship ladder, having claimed every pole and victory on offer at the track dating back to 2010 when he raced in the 125 cc class.

Marquez also moved back into the lead of the MotoGP riders’ championship with the win, running five points clear of Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales, who could only finish fourth in Germany behind Pedrosa.

Valentino Rossi finished fifth on the second factory Yamaha ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaro, while previous points leader Andrea Dovizioso ailed to eighth place at the checkered flag. Johann Zarco and Cal Crutchlow completed the top 10.

MotoGP now embarks on its summer break, returning in one month’s time at Brno in the Czech Republic.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”