Excellent eighth for Aleix Espargaro at Sachsenring

Only 21 MotoGP riders took to the grid at 2pm today at the Sachsenring, for the main event of the German GP. Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone were all absent through injury, and were unable to start the 30-lap contest.

Home rider Stefan Bradl enjoyed five laps of glory after passing Valentino Rossi on the first lap, but from then on it was all about Marc Marquez, who took the lead and escaped for the remaining 25 laps. He won ahead of Cal Crutchlow, who passed Rossi for second place and then cut the gap to Marquez before the end. Marquez, Crutchlow and Rossi were the podium finishers at round eight.

Fifth on the grid, after his best qualifying session to date in MotoGP, Aleix Espargaró stormed off the line when the lights went out at the Sachsenring. The POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rubbed shoulders with the leading group in the early laps, remaining in third place for the opening two laps.

For the umpteenth consecutive race, he fought against riders on official bikes. For the fourth race in a row, after the rounds in Italy, Catalonia, Holland and Germany, he repeated the best result so far for a CRT rider: Eighth. This result gives him eight points and consolidates his place in the top ten overall in MotoGP.

8th Aleix Espargaró:
“I am very pleased with our start to the race. I knew I could be fast with the soft tyre on the first few laps, so I did what I could to stay ahead. I pushed hard, but inevitably, gradually, I lost touch with the frontrunners. Today was the hottest day of the weekend and increased track temperatures hindered the situation somewhat. I think we had a great race and the difference to first place was the smallest so far this year. I fought to the end with Dovizioso and passed him a couple of times, but he always got back ahead on the descent. We again picked up plenty of points and were fighting with official bikes, we are in a good position in the championship and I’m very happy with this eighth place.”

Source: Aspar Media