by H. Mayor – photo: motogp.com
Marc Marquez won again at his favourite circuit in Germany, becoming the new leader of the MotoGP World Championship. This year’s competition is proving to be the most extraordinary and unpredictable of all times. In just nine races, five different riders have conquered the top of the podium and ten in total have managed any podium position so far including some unexpected second-liners such as Zarco, Petrucci or Jonas Folger, who was the other great hero of last Sunday in Sachsenring. The five pilots at the top of the classification are separated by a mere 26 points and, best of all, no one knows what is going to happen at the end.
“Yes, after winning the first two races I became over confident. The fight for the title is much harder than I thought” said Maverick Viñales form the Paddock at the end of the race in Germany in an unusually self-critical exercise. His glowing start of the season has already been diluted in the many headlines honouring the victories of all other winning drivers at this most unpredictable of editions.
Never in the last 20 years has been a leader with such few points (129) as Marc Marquez has at the moment. Used to a type of Championship where only a few have any real chance of winning, this year’s edition offers a rare and thrilling change for MotoGP lovers.
Márquez makes history in Germany
Marc Marquez was at least able to keep alive one of the few traditions that has not been thrown out of the window this season. Sachsenring was again his lucky circuit having managed to get pole and victory there every year since 2009. A short and sinuous road which is just right for him. Conditions were ripe again this weekend with an authoritative pole and all his rivals safely behind.
Nobody threatened his victory besides Rossi which gave it a brave shot although he fell short after struggling to get himself in the right position. Another unpredictable hero this Sunday was Jonas Folger. A usual second-liner achieving the best performance of his career to date and taking a sensational second place at his home turf . The German driver made Marquez work for his win with the support of the nearly 80.000 spectators that cheered with joy every time he took the lead early on in the race.
Folger
A few mistakes typical of an extremely challenging race truncated the local hero’s dreams of victory but he did manage to secure a very solid second position which he defended against a threatening Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard still holds a real chance to be the championship’s winner after one triumph and four third positions (plus two races out of points). He is now just one race away (26 points) from the lead, a most peculiar position.
Rossi’s “permission” for Viñales to overtake after a long and tense fight shackles even more the top places of the classification with Dovizioso visibly flatter after his two consecutive wins in Italy and Spain. Looking at past years’ records you have to go back to 1997 to find a leader with similar, if still a few more, points to today’s: that volatile Kenny Roberts Jr.
The MotoGP World Championship takes now a break until its next date at Brno in August. Usually at this point in time the outcome is pretty much decided but today nobody can know for sure what is going to happen. A most enthralling place to be.
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