After a reversal of fortunes in Assen, and at a track where he has won every year in every category he has raced in since 2009, Marc Marquez finally took his second victory of the 2015 MotoGP season in Germany at the Sachsenring, leading home a Repsol Honda 1-2 with team-mate Dani Predrosa, whilst Valentino Rossi extended his championship lead over Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.
Marquez didn't have it all his own way though at the start. He got away okay but Pedrosa slipped past him at turn 1, before Lorenzo got round the outside of both of them, taking the lead as Marc slipped back into 2nd ahead of his team-mate, immediately giving chase to the Yamaha rider. Rossi however was the man being watched, as he set several fastest laps, pushing so hard he nearly came off his Yamaha chasing down Pedrosa!
Marqeuz eventually took the lead from Lorenzo and began to pull away, Rossi then slipped past both Pedrosa and his team-mate, and it looked like he might have the pace to fight with Marc. Marquez though didn't want anyone taking this victory off him and he rode off into the distance. Pedrosa then found his way past the Yamaha or Lorenzo, and slowly began to close in on The Doctor.
Rossi and Pedrosa had a great battle, the gap fairly stable at one stage but then Pedrosa found incredible pace, faster than even the leader and had a great scrap with Valentino before finally going back in-front of the Yamaha too take P2, a great ride from the Spaniard, especially after his arm-pump surgery earlier in the season, which could have ended his MotoGP career. Lorenzo dropped backed to a distant 4th, Rossi taking 3rd and extending his championship lead by another three points.
Ducati had a quiet race. Andrea Iannone finished a solid 5th but Andrea Dovizioso crashed out around halfway through the race. The team has admitted they have lost a bit of their confidence, after such a great start to the season, which included three consecutive 2nd places for Dovisiozo. They haven't been on the podium since Iannone's runner up spot at Mugello, but say they will be back up on the podium soon.
Both Suzuki rider's finished in the points, with Aleix Espargaro 10th and Maverick Vinales 11th. The pair had given us great entertainment with a fantastic battle between the two of them, Vinales initially getting the better of his more experienced team-mate but Aleix fought back to round out the top ten. Another solid weekend for the returning factory squad.
It was all smiles though for Marc, Dani and Valentino, as they took to the podium, and Rossi took a 'selfie' of them all. Rossi is still on top in championship, but Lorenzo isn't far behind. MotoGP returns in a couple of weeks at Indianapolis. The battle continues.
I would also just like to send my apologies for the blog being very quiet until recently. My personal life hasn't been easy for a while now, things have gone on etc etc so I have had little motivation or time to write, and would have written this report and others over the weekend but of course we sadly lost Jules Bianchi, so decided to leave it and first do a tribute to Jules. Normal blogging will resume as soon as it can folks. Thank you.
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