MotoGP Germany: Marquez and Honda return to form

Reigning world champion Marc Marquez notched his second victory of the season at the MotoGP German Grand Prix on Sunday, leading a one-two finish for Honda.

At the start of the race, Jorge Lorenzo surged to the lead, with a brilliant double-pass over the Honda pairing on the outside of turn 1. Valentino Rossi in the other Yamaha was also making strides and was up into third place within the first five laps.

However, the race soon turned in favour of the Hondas with Marc Marquez reeling in Jorge Lorenzo for race lead and Dani Pedrosa re-passing both the Yamaha riders to secure Honda’s best result of an otherwise trouble season.

Honda have a strong record at Sachsenring, with their winning streak at the 3.7km circuit stretching back to 2010. The Japanese manufacturer also gambled on the hard front tyre, while most of their rivals preferred the asymmetric compound.

Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi held on to Pedrosa but never had a shot at making a manoeuvre, eventually finishing third, over four seconds ahead of teammate and championship rival Jorge Lorenzo.

Behind the leading four runners, Andrea Iannone brought home his Ducati in fifth place ahead of lead satellite rider Bradley Smith.

After nine races, Valentino Rossi leads the championship with an extended advantage of 13 points over teammate Lorenzo. Although the latter has more victories to his name - four in a row, to be precise - the nine time world champion has shown more consistency by finishing on the podium at every round so far.

MotoGP German Grand Prix - Results (Top 10)

1. Marc Marquez (Honda)
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +2.226
3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +5.608
4. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +9.928
5. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) +20.785
6. Bradley Smith (Tech 3) +23.215
7. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) +29.881
8. Pol Espargaro (Tech 3) +34.953
9. Danilo Petrucci (Pramac) +35.875
10. Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) +37.253