Marquez wins ninth straight German Grand Prix

SACHSENRING, Germany: World champion Marc Marquez cruised to his ninth consecutive German Grand Prix win to extend his MotoGP lead at the Sachsenring circuit on Sunday.

Honda’s Spanish rider has won in the top category for the last six years and before that three times in the lower classes.“Nine victories in a row here is incredible,” Marquez said. “Viva the Sachsenring!”

He finished in 41 minutes 5.019 seconds, 2.196 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi.The Italian veteran’s Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales was 2.776sec further back in third.

Marquez now has 165 points in the MotoGP championship standings, 46 ahead of Rossi and 56 more than Vinales. Starting from pole, as he has every year during his streak at the German circuit, Marquez immediately lost a couple of places as compatriot Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) seized the lead.

Marquez recovered and caught Lorenzo but was content to stalk the Ducati for a while on the short and twisty Sachsenring circuit which puts a premium on tyres.As the leader began to lose grip, Marquez took the lead with 17 laps to go, but continued to ride conservatively, allowing Rossi to trim the gap.

With 10 laps left, Marquez accelerated away.“When I see the time is 0.6, I think now is the time to push,” Marquez said.Rossi insisted Yamaha had done well.“Sachsenring is normally difficult for us. We are very happy to make a double podium.”

While Ducatis, who had shone in qualifying, occupied the four places below the podium, the result was in some ways disappointing for the Italian manufacturer on a circuit where it has won only one victory in two decades (Australian Casey Stoner won in 2008).Danilo Petrucci finished fourth on the Ducati Pramac.