Marc Marquez says the current grip issues he faces with his Honda helped him to pull away in the German Grand Prix due to “grip remaining the same” in tricky conditions.
Marquez sustained pressure in the early laps of the 30-lap Sachsenring encounter having relieved Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro on the opening tour, though he found himself able to open up a two-second advantage once light rain started to fall at around a thirds-distance as his rivals behind started to falter.
The rain soon disappeared though and his advantage began to be whittled away by the chasing KTM of Miguel Oliveira, the Catalan GP victor reducing his lead to just under a second before running out of steam in the final few circulations, allowing Marquez to streak to his first win since the 2019 finale.
Marquez says that the lack of grip that his RC213-V is currently affording him actually helped him to sustain his pace when the rain started falling due to the bike feeling the “same”, the six-time premier class champion adding that he knew it was “my time” as soon as he saw rain falling.
“When I saw some rain drops on my screen I knew it was my time, because we (Honda) are struggling with grip and when there are raindrops on the track our grip remains the same so I could keep the same race pace,” said Marquez.
“I slowed a bit to take care of the front but I rode in the same way, and that gap was just enough because Miguel (Oliveira) was faster than me today.
“In the normal conditions he was a bit faster but I was able to manage well, I was able to keep concentrated throughout the race.
“It was difficult to take the risk and that kind of mentality because I’m coming from three crashes in a row, I just kept pushing and I led all the laps so this is nice.
“In one moment of the race I thought he would catch me, but I just kept saying to myself ‘keep going’ and I kept pushing more in sector one, and I knew that was my best sector and his was sector three so I kept trying to survive there.
“I forgot where I was and the circuit and everything, I just focussed on the riding and when I crossed the line there was a very nice feeling.”
Marquez says he is expecting to return to “our reality” at the upcoming races that should prove more taxing to his current physical condition-particularly next weekend’s Assen venue which features plenty of high-speed direction changes-but that his Sachsenring success would provide “extra motivation” to his Honda outfit that has struggled for form over the past couple of seasons.
“It was something I still don’t realise (is true), when I crossed the line I really enjoyed it and when I saw my team and they were really emotional which was really nice as when you have to come back from a situation like mine you can’t do it alone, you need people,” continued Marquez.
“You need doctors, the Honda team with Alberto Puig, my manager Emilio Alzamora and my family helped me a lot and we worked really hard.
“It’s true that in the next races we’ll come back to our reality but now it’s time to enjoy this weekend, we were in a deep situation and looking for a petrol station, but now we’ve found one and the tank is full so this is extra motivation for everyone.”
