German GP Report & Results: 125cc
Marc Márquez’s dominance of the 125cc class continued today at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, where the 17 year-old Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider benefitted from a late crash for Pol Espargaró to take a fifth consecutive win, with Tomoyoshi Koyama and Sandro Cortese completing the podium in a thrilling contest.
It was a noticeably nervy grid prior to the start of the race as riders and teams tried to best judge what tyre combinations to go for, with the wet track fast drying out. Home riders Jonas Folger and Marcel Schrötter opted for full wet front and rear, giving them an early advantage as they got clear at the front with Folger leading by 2.4s from his compatriot.
The first crasher of the race was Alberto Moncayo, with a host of riders fortunate not to be taken out by the young Spaniard’s bike, and as the surface continued to dry quickly the early gap opened by Folger and Schrötter had been swallowed up by lap six as Márquez and Espargaró overtook.
The pair initiated a battle for the lead at the front and started to open a gap back to the remainder, and further back Folger had a run off as his race ran into difficulties. A quartet comprising Randy Krummenacher, Esteve Rabat, Bradley Smith and Koyama had by then established themselves as the group contending for what looked to be the only remaining podium spot by mid-race distance.
The Márquez-Espargaró battle continued to rage in an aggressive manner and the championship leader experienced a momentary wobble on his Derbi machine as the pace remained high. As the final quarter of the race unfolded Cortese had done an admirable job of pulling himself up to the group fighting for third.
On lap 24 of 27 Krummenacher suffered the bitter disappointment of crashing at turn one as he pushed hard to maintain third position, thus opening the door to the remaining challengers. More drama, which would affect the race lead, was to come on the next lap however.
With Espargaró in front of Márquez the Tuenti Racing rider’s rear tyre touched the astroturf on the side of the track and he was thrown from his bike, Márquez only narrowly avoiding being taken out as well. Unable to restart his machine and get back on track the race was over for the 19-year-old, as Márquez cruised on to victory by a margin of 17.578s.
The crash of Espargaró elevated Koyama to second position, a great result for his team in their home GP, with home rider Cortese edging Rabat in the dying stages of the final lap to complete the podium, his first of the campaign and one which naturally delighted the fervent German crowd.
Rabat and Smith completed the top five, with Johann Zarco, Danny Webb, Efrén Vázquez, Sturla Fagerhaug and wildcard rider Dani Kartheininger in the top ten. Krummenacher eventually finished 11th. In total 13 riders failed to finish the race.
The result means Márquez now holds a 26-point lead at the top of the Championship, with Espargaró remaining second and the absent Nico Terol third. The win was also the 100th in GP racing for Derbi.
RESULTS:
Pos Nº Rider Bike Laps Time Delay/Retirement
1 93 Marc Márquez Derbi 27 41’28.274
2 71 Tomoyoshi Koyama Aprilia 27 41’45.852 17.578
3 11 Sandro Cortese Derbi 27 41’46.537 18.263
4 12 Esteve Rabat Aprilia 27 41’47.372 19.098
5 38 Bradley Smith Aprilia 27 41’47.987 19.713
6 14 Johann Zarco Aprilia 27 42’13.250 44.976
7 99 Daniel Webb Aprilia 27 42’21.517 53.243
8 7 Efrén Vazquez Derbi 27 42’21.576 53.302
9 50 Sturla Fagerhaug Aprilia 27 42’21.863 53.589
10 61 D.Kartheininger KTM 27 42’33.352 1’05.078
11 35 R.Krummenacher Aprilia 27 42’41.758 1’13.484
12 32 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 27 42’41.993 1’13.719
13 5 Alexis Masbou Aprilia 27 42’49.953 1’21.679
14 78 Marcel Schrötter Honda 26 42’09.972 1 Lap
15 63 M.Zulfahmi Aprilia 26 42’12.796 1 Lap
16 94 Jonas Folger Aprilia 26 42’20.190 1 Lap
17 84 Jakub Kornfeil Aprilia 26 42’35.741 1 Lap
18 86 Kevin Hanus Honda 23 41’40.444 4 Laps
(2) 44 Pol Espargaró Derbi 24 36’54.378 Retirement
(19) 60 M.van der Mark Lambretta 23 38’14.915 Retirement
(14) 53 Jasper Iwema Aprilia 16 25’48.769 Retirement
(15) 15 S.G.Giorgi Aprilia 15 24’20.220 Retirement
(18) 68 T.Finsterbusch KTM 15 24’36.059 Retirement
(13) 26 Adrián Martín Aprilia 14 22’40.484 Retirement
(24) 87 Luca Marconi Aprilia 10 17’08.288 Retirement
(26) 69 Louis Rossi Aprilia 8 14’05.980 Retirement
(23) 62 Marvin Fritz Honda 7 11’48.723 Retirement
(25) 85 Eric Hübsch Aprilia 6 10’16.143 Retirement
(20) 72 Marco Ravaioli Lambretta 4 6’56.018 Retirement
(16) 23 Alberto Moncayo Aprilia 2 3’33.081 Retirement
39 Luis Salom Aprilia 0 Retirement
Info source: motogp.com
