Marc Marquez took a thrilling win at the German GP in race that started in wet conditions. Marquez switched to full slicks after dropping back in the wet phase of the race early on. A trip through the gravel at Turn 8 demoted him to the bottom of the top 10, and led to him gambling on a relatively early switch to a slick-shod second bike.
The pitstop was inspired, and led to a 10s victory over LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, who rode a superbly aggressive final stint on slick tyres.Andrea Dovizioso – who hadn’t won a MotoGP race since 2009 when he was a Honda rider – led for most of the race on his works Ducati, and salvaged third after stopping for dry tyres too late.Scott Redding, who switched to intermediates when he stopped, was fourth, but there was heartbreak for Pramac teammate Danilo Petrucci, who led on lap four – but crashed out of the lead six laps later.The race was a disaster for the works Yamahas, with Valentino Rossi finishing eighth and Jorge Lorenzo – who hates these conditions – in 15th.
From pole position, Marquez – who fell heavily in the treacherously-wet warm-up – led the charge to Turn 1 with Rossi looking for the inside at the first corner.Moments later, Marquez then ran wide and Rossi nipped through, with Dovizioso grabbing second at Turn 8 a few corners later.Petrucci snatched third briefly, but Marquez grabbed the place back before the end of the first lap. Lorenzo ended the first lap 11th. Assen winner Miller surged up to sixth from 16th on the opening lap.
Petrucci and Marquez repeated their swapping of third on the second tour, with Petrucci making it stick this time at Turn 1 of lap three. Miller passed Barbera for fifth. Dovizioso then took the lead from Rossi at Turn 8, with Petrucci following suit at Turn 12 to make it a Ducati 1-2. Petrucci, using the harder of the front tyres, hit the front to make it three leaders in four laps, passing Dovizioso (who was on the softer front option) with a bold move at Turn 12. Miller nailed Marquez at Turn 12 to run fourth on lap seven, as the top three of Petrucci, Dovizioso and Rossi pulled out a 2.5s gap over the chasing pack.
Barbera demoted Marquez to sixth, with Dani Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda rising to seventh, ahead of Andrea Iannone’s works Ducati, the second Pramac Ducati of Scott Redding and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow. Lorenzo continued to struggle, falling to 15th by lap 10. Crutchlow then passed a battling Redding and Iannone in one smart move.
Petrucci shunted out at Turn 3 at one-third distance, just losing the front in the slow right-hander. He brought his bike back in flames as he switched to his second machine. Then Marquez went off too, but managed to stay on his bike as he ran through the gravel at Turn 8, dropping to ninth. Dovizioso led Rossi by over 2s, with Barbera passing Miller for third. Pedrosa was now up to fifth, ahead of Crutchlow, Redding and the chastened Marquez. Barbera passed Rossi for second at Turn 1 at half distance, as Crutchlow passed Pedrosa for fifth.
With the track drying, Marquez was the first of the frontrunners to pit for his second bike fitted with slicks, front and rear. Pol Espargaro also changed his bike, and almost immediately fell off it at Turn 2. Rossi retook second from Barbera with 13 laps to go, as Crutchlow slid under Miller for fourth. Rossi, who looked after his tyres early on, then carved into Dovizioso’s lead. Dovizioso soon had Rossi, Barbera, Crutchlow and Miller on his tail. Marquez was now the fastest bike on the track, as Redding pitted from seventh for intermediates.
Rossi’s crew seemed agitated that he didn’t pit with nine laps to go, as sixth-placed Marquez took huge chunks of time – 7s per lap – out of the leaders. The leading quartet pitted with seven laps to go, leaving Miller in the lead on wets. Crutchlow rejoined ahead of Dovizioso, Rossi and Barbera. Marquez carved into Miller’s lead, and took the lead with six laps remaining. Redding took second place, with Dovizioso third from Crutchlow, Iannone and Pedrosa. Rossi lost a host of places during this phase, tumbling to seventh. Crutchlow, on slicks, bullied his way past Dovizioso for third to chase after inter-shod Redding. Dovizioso took that place on the final lap.Behind Redding, Iannone finished fifth ahead of Pedrosa, Miller (who stopped very late) and Rossi.
