MotoGP 2017: Marquez beats Folger to win German grand prix

Marc Marquez beats Jonas Folger to take his fifth consecutive MotoGP win (eighth win across all classes) at Sachsenring. Today's win also means that Marquez now leads the championship from Maverick Vinales.

Marc Marquez remains unchallenged in Germany for another year as the Repsol Honda rider took victory for the eighth time running at the Sachsenring circuit today. The Spaniard fended off home hero Jonas Folger (Tech 3 Yamaha Racing) to take a convincing win as well as championship lead today. Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa completed the podium, finishing third in the race.

Starting from pole position, Marquez ran a flawless race throughout. Although Folger led the race for the initial part, Marquez wasn’t planning to let go of his record run at Sachsenring and took back his position quickly. In the final few laps, the Spaniard was chased down by the local boy but Marquez had plenty in reserve to keep the Tech 3 Yamaha rider at bay. Marquez put his fastest lap of the day in the closing laps and won the race by a comfortable margin of over three seconds. Folger settled for second – which is his best result in the premier class racing so far.

Pedrosa ran a lonely race in third and finished over 11 seconds behind the leader. After having a disappointing qualifying session yesterday, Maverick Vinales of Movistar Yamaha moved up the order quite impressively, progressing from eleventh spot on the grid to finish fourth. Rossi, too, improved from qualifying by finishing fifth despite starting from ninth spot on the grid. Alvaro Bautista of Aspar Team turned out to be fastest Ducati rider today as he grabbed sixth place, ahead of Aleix Espargaro (seventh) of Factory Aprilia and Andrea Dovizioso (eighth) of Factory Ducati. Johnann Zarco of Tech 3 Yamaha and Cal Crutchlow of LCR Honda completed the top ten, finishing in ninth and tenth, respectively.

Today’s race results have given another turn to the championship as Marquez (129) now leads the points tally by 5 points over Maverick Vinales (124 points). Behind them sits Andrea Dovizioso at 123 points and Valentino Rossi at 119 points, meaning all four riders are separated by just ten points going halfway through the season!