MotoGP: Marc Marquez Wins The German GP, His First Since 2019

Honda's Marc Marquez finally scored his first win of the season as he beat KTM's Miguel Oliveira to cross the chequered flag in the 2021 MotoGP German Grand Prix at Sachsenring. The world champion took his first win after 581 days since the 2019 Valencia GP. An injury put him out of action for most of 2020 and the initial races of 2021. This also ends Honda's win drought, its longest since 1982. The German GP ended in a fantastic battle between Marquez and Oliveira who took 1-2 respectively, while Fabio Quartararo claimed third place on the podium. With the victory, Marquez continues to maintain his record of back-to-back wins at the Sachsenring circuit.

Also Read: MotoGP: Zarco Beats Quartararo By 0.01s To Claim Pole For German GP

On the podium - Marc Marquez, Miguel Oliveira, and Fabio Quartararo

The race started with Pramac's Johann Zarco on pole position followed by Quartararo and Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro on the front row. A strong start gave Aleix the lead while the fifth-placed Marquez muscled his way up to second on the opening lap. Marquez attempted to pass Aleix on the next few corners but the Aprilia rider retaliated to maintain his lead. However, Espargaro couldn't hold the Honda rider for long who seemed to be back in his rhythm and passed the Aprilia to take the lead at the end of Lap 1.

Marquez kept his advantage and fended off attacks from Aleix on the following laps. The riders were looking at conserving their tyres and that was apparent from the lap times. This, however, changed when it started to rain by Lap 22 that prompted Marquez to pick up the pace while Ducati's Jack Miller passed Espargaro to take second.

Miguel Oliveira was the only rider to match Marquez's pace and finished 1.610s off the race leader

As the showers passed a couple of laps later, Marquez held a lead of 2s by the halfway mark, while Oliveira had climbed the ranks to take second from Miller. He also turned out to be the only rider to match Marquez's pace and was now hunting down on the Repsol Honda with Miller being a distant third over the top two riders. The Ducati rider's fading pace meant Quartararo managed to pass Miller but still didn't have the pace matching that of Oliveira and Marquez.

With 12 laps to go, Oliveira was now eating into Marquez's lead with the gap down to 1.5s with three laps to go. However, Marquez wasn't letting go of this and held on to the spot taking his first victory in over a year by 1.610s. It was a special moment for the entire team at Honda as the pit erupted in celebration.

Oliveira crossed the line soon after followed by Quartararo taking a distant third. Coming in fourth was Brad Binder on the second KTM after starting 13th on the grid. Francesco Bagnaia finished fifth ahead of Jack Miller, while Aleix Espargaro dropped to seventh after that promising start. Zarco also ran into trouble and couldn't maintain his pace and settled for P8 ahead of Pol Espargaro on the second Honda machine.

Alex Rins returned to racing after missing Barcelona due to a wrist fracture. The Suzuki rider claimed 11th ahead of Jorge Martin of Pramac, and Takaaki Nakagami of LCR. SRT's Valentino Rossi claimed 14th while the final point was taken by his stepbrother Luca Marini of Avintia Racing. His teammate Enea Bastianini finished at P16 ahead of Iker Lecuona on the Tech 3 KTM bike. The final finishers were Franco Morbidelli of SRT, while Yamaha's Maverick Vinales finished 19th in his worst-ever MotoGP result.