MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 9 / JUNE 30-JULY 2, 2017
SASCHENRING / OBERLUNGWITZ, GERMANY
P74
It's been a long drought for German
fans, with a severe shortage of riders
in the premier class. Jonas Folger
made a bit of history with second
place—the first German to stand on
the podium at his home race in 60
years. The last was Walther Zeller,
who rode a BMW to third at the
Hockenheimring in 1957. "I know it is
a long time. My goal is to be the best
German rider," he said.
Moto3 riders Danny Kent and Maria
Herrera were both hit with hefty
12-place grid penalties after riding too
slowly on three sections on Friday.
This means exceeding one's best lap
time by 10 percent, and not necessar-
ily on consecutive track sections or
even in the same session, Kent quali-
fied 16th, and started from 28th on the
31-bike grid; Herrera qualified 29th,
so dropped two places. After quitting
his Moto2 team at the third round, this
was Kent's second race on the Red
Bull KTM for Team Ajo. At Le Mans he
was a wildcard, now he is in place of
the injured Niccolo Antonelli.
Danilo Petrucci has ended specula-
tion that he might move to Aprilia next
year, with confirmation today that he
will stay with the Pramac Ducati team.
Already riding a Desmosedici GP17
like that used by the factory teamsters
Dovizioso and Lorenzo, Petrucci's
strong performance in recent races
has won him yet more approval, and a
one-year renewal of his contract with
the Bologna factory. He will stay with
the satellite team, in a deal similar to
Cal Crutchlow's new contract with
HRC, to stay in the LCR Honda team.
Aprilia and Yamaha both took their
down-force-ducted fairings out
of cold storage at the Sachsenring,
with the Japanese company adding
Briefly...
Jonas Folger (94) hounded
Marquez for the whole
race but couldn't stop the
rampaging Spaniard.
