Spain's Marquez wins at German MotoGP GP

IANS

Sachsenring (Germany), July 17 (IANS) Spanish motorcycle road racer Marc Marquez eased to victory in Sunday's 2016 German MotoGP Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, extending his points lead as the riders head into the second half of the season.

Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213), completed the race in 47 minutes, 3.239 seconds, 9.857 seconds ahead of second place Briton, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), reports Efe.

Marquez and the Repsol Honda team were able to strategically read the wet race conditions, changing to slick tires on lap 17 after he struggled to keep up with the leading racers.

After the tire change, his lap times came down and he took the lead for the rest of the race.

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha YZR-M1) started the race in the top ten, but dropped back significantly, fishing in 15th place, one minute, 17.694 seconds behind the winner, rounding off a disappointing weekend which was marred by falls in the practice and qualification rounds.

Lorenzo's Italian teammate, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha YZR-M1) finished in the eighth position.

In the overall rankings, Marquez had 170 championship points going into August's Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix, securely above second place Lorenzo (122) and third place Rossi (111).

--IANS

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Edited by Staff Editor