Marquez takes pole for 7th successive year

SACHSENRING, Germany: Marc Marquez continued his recent dominance of the Sachsenring by taking pole for Sunday’s German MotoGP.

It is the seventh straight year that the Spaniard will start the race as pole-sitter. The last six years, the Honda rider went on to win the race.

“I am very happy but the Yamaha and Suzuki riders are going really strong,” said Marquez.

The 26-year-old, who leads the championship standings by 44 points, set a new lap record of 1min 20.195sec, edging out the French youngster Fabio Quartararo who will start from second on his Yamaha.

Quartararo, who began from pole before finishing second in last week’s Dutch GP in Assen, had a scare in morning practice when his Yamaha developed steering problems, the vibrations causing serious pain in his right shoulder.

His mechanics — and the team doctor — appeared to have fixed the problem as he finished just 0.205sec behind Marquez. Quartararo was being pressed all the way by Maverick Vinales, who won in Assen last week. The Spaniard was just 0.006sec slower and completes the front row on his Yamaha. Alex Rins went off the track early on but came back to take fourth on his Suzuki. He is joined on the second row by Ducati’s Jack Miller and Honda’s Cal Crutchlow who is riding in spite of fracturing his tibia and damaging his anterior cruciate ligament in a cycling accident earlier in the week.