VOLUME 56 ISSUE 27 JULY 9, 2019 P63
The German GP was dry, but the circuit
outside Chemnitz had been rendered slippery
by overnight rain. But that was not an excuse
for the crash that interrupted the mini-purple
patch of super-rookie Fabio Quartararo.
The Petronas Yamaha rider had qualified
on the front row again for the
fourth race in succession and
a fifth time this year and was
tipped for a third successive
podium. But the expected
challenge to Ring-Master
Marquez ended on only the
second of 30 laps when Quar-
tararo slipped off out of sixth
place, trying too hard to make
up for a poor start.
"I made a bad decision, a
little bit of bad thinking in my
head," he said.
The changed conditions, also cooler than
in practice, triggered some last-minute tire
changes. Marquez had already decided to
take a gamble on the medium rather than the
otherwise almost universally popular hard
rear. "The hard was better for 20 laps, then it
would drop off…but because it was cooler, I
took the medium."
Marquez's start from pole had not been
brilliant, but he risked everything
with late braking and a wide entry
to the first tight corner to carry
out his pre-race strategy: to lead
from start to finish.
Maverick Vinales (Monster
Yamaha) had started well from
the far side of row one, but by the
fourth lap, it was Alex Rins (Ec-
star Suzuki) chasing the leader,
while Vinales was coming under
pressure from Cal Crutchlow
(LCR Honda). Rins kept Marquez
honest, but by lap 10, the gap had stretched
to two seconds. Eight laps later it had just
reached three, when Rins lost the front into
the notorious Waterfall corner, an ultra-fast
Planet
Marc Marquez was
simply on another
planet during
the latest MotoGP
round at the
Sachsenring in
Germany. Everyone
else was fighting for
second place.
After a shaky start, Marquez (93) out-braked
everyone to lead into turn one.
