Marc Marquez took a tenth consecutive victory and seventh in the top class at the German Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Maverick Vinales and Cal Crutchlow.
The Repsol Honda rider took a calculated risk by fitting the medium rear tyre, which struggled to do race distance in free practice.
With the hard rear tyre the more favorable option, and the temperatures much cooler than on Saturday’s practice sessions, it was a risky decision to take, but one Marquez had no such trouble with.
Vinales and Alex Rins were both keeping touch with Marquez in the opening laps, but on lap four the defending champion pulled the pin.
With the gap increasing, Rins made his way into second and tried to chase down the leader, but Marquez showed his prowess around the German circuit as he delivered a new race lap record on lap five.
Rins was in a comfortable second place, but the Ecstar Suzuki suffered a second crash in as many races at the top of the waterfall at the mid race stage.
The mistake by Rins undid a huge amount of positive work from the weekend, and gifted second place back to the Monster Yamaha rider.
Vinales had no time to rest, as LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow was in a surprising third place and studying the Assen winner’s pace.
It was visible that Cutchlow had better pace on some sections of the track and Vinales on others. The 24 year-old was able to hold off Crutchlow after the Brit ran wide at turn eleven on the penultimate lap.
The battle behind for fourth, was a race long affair that saw Danilo Petrucci come out on top ahead of teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
It was an ever changing tussle with Jack Miller and Joan Mir also involved. Mir was exceptionally strong on the brakes and made several moves during the race at turn thirteen.
The Ducati riders were better coming onto the main straight and going into turn one, which meant Mir could not use his pace advantage and break away.
On the penultimate lap, it was Dovizioso and who led the way, but Petrucci was strong coming down the hill and took back fourth place.
Petrucci then put a perfect last lap together, and stayed ahead of his factory teammate, while Miller was sixth with Mir holding station in seventh.
Eighth was Valentino Rossi who gained three places from his eleventh place start. It was important for the Italian to finish after three consecutive non scores.
Ninth was the top Petronas Yamaha rider in Franco Morbidelli, with Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement Stefan Bradl rounding out the top ten.
It was a disappointing day for Frenchman Fabio Quatararo, who made a poor start from second on the grid, losing five positions after contact with Miller at turn one.
Three corners later and Quatararo crashed coming out of Omega corner as he went for the inside line on Petrucci. It was a disappointing end to a superb first nine races for the rookie sensation.
It was a perfect weekend for championship leader Marquez, who leaves Germany having broken the race lap record, along with the circuit lap record which was achieved in Saturday’s qualifying.
The riders now have a three week summer break, before the action returns at round ten in the Czech Republic at the Brno circuit.
