MotoGP with Boris | A wondrous German fairy-tale

2021 MotoGP Round Eight Sachsenring

Everyone loves a fairy-tale, don’t they?

Especially when it’s a fairy-tale that travels at over 300km/h.

Marc Marquez was that fairy-tale on Sunday at Sachsenring.

After almost 600 days in the wilderness following his humerus-breaking accident, the eight-time world champion returned to the top step of the podium, his normal steely composure awash with tears of relief and gratitude. It seemed he still had what it took to win at the very highest level.

Well, he certainly had it at Sachsenring – a track he had never been beaten at. If he was going to win anywhere, it was certainly there. It’s a track he loves because it’s mainly all right-hand corners, and runs counter-clockwise – which he digs. And it doesn’t put a lot of stress on his damaged arm.

Add to that the fact it started sort of raining, which was his signal to push harder, and Marc Marquez brought home the bacon HRC had been craving so much and for so long.

So is the rest of the field on notice now?

I’m sure HRC would like that to be the case. And Marc’s win will certainly pay dividends for his personal confidence. But I remain unconvinced the King has returned…completely. If he can back this win up with another one at Assen, then it may be time to dust off the throne. The five-week-long summer break follows Assen, and I’m sure Marc will redouble his efforts to return to full fitness, but even Alberto Puig was unconvinced before the race that Marc was completely back to his winning ways.

He won anyway, but questions remain.

The weekend started with doubts everywhere, as Germany baked in a heatwave.

Vinales, and indeed all of Yamaha bar Fabulous, seemed to be the epicentre of this doubt. Maverick had topped testing in Spain, but was flubbing about in Sachsenring, and there were rumours he’d chuck it all in during the summer break.

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Rossi was nowhere again. Morbidelli was even further away, and only Fabulous seemed to have the goods, and was a solid favourite. Alpine Stars had even given him an extra large-double Velcroed cover for his zipper, and he actually spent less time topless than he normally does.

Rins was back after face-planting into a stationary truck while texting and riding a pushbike in Le Mans. He’d had surgery for a broken radius, missed Catalunya, but was back for Germany.

Ducati seemed to be running a hit-and-miss scenario. They had last won here in 2008, when Casey Stoner made his Bologna bullet work very well around the go-kart-sized track. Zarco looked to be the pick of the Ducati bunch, and Miller was also not hanging around. Bagnaia was almost invisible at the back of the field.

Mir was not shining, and was constantly being outpaced by Rins in the practice sessions, while the orange Austrian contingent was being led by Miguel Oliveira, fresh off a brilliant win the previous round. Binder was keeping the Suzukis company mid-field.

FP1 saw Jorge Martin, Pol Espargaro (surprise!), and Fabulous all ploughing gravel, but the top 20 were all within a second of each other – so there wasn’t all that much in it across the board.

Pol crashed again in FP3, but his brother, Aleix, seemed to have the measure of the Aprilia and was at the pointy end. I remained unimpressed. Aleix can always throw a few fast laps under the Aprilia’s tyres, but come race day, he invariably rides backwards.

Zarco had painted a weird voodoo eye on the back of his helmet for reasons no-one understood, but he was consistently fast, so maybe his foray into the occult was working.

And while Marquez did top the timesheets for a while, the serious players looked to be the two Frenchmen, Fabulous and Zarco, with Oliveira and Miller also keen to have a crack.

By the time FP4 had rolled around, the heat was taking a toll – mainly on Pol. He had wrapped his right foot in Alfoil to stop it catching fire, but had also managed to smash a few more HRC fairings.

Qualifying Two saw some arm-waving from Alex Marquez at Jack Miller – who was trying to stay out of everyone’s way by riding on the inside of a corner, and Bastianini incurred the wrath of Petrucci for not riding fast enough, and Race Direction dropped the Beast three grid places as a result. The irony of Petrucci getting upset because someone was riding slower than him was not lost on me.

But Vinales was riding slower than everyone and qualified in 21st, which was the worst qualifying of his career.

Happily, Q1 was spectacular, and it saw Zarco on pole, Fabulous second, and Aleix and his Aprilia in third. Behind them sat Miller, Marquez, and Oliveira. The six of them were separated by three-tenths of a second.

Sachenring is a short, tight track. There aren’t many places to pass, and it rarely throws up any seriously exciting races. And it didn’t this time, either.

Aleix led the field into the first corner, Marquez hard on his heels, with Zarco, Fabulous, Miller, and Oliveira all in hot pursuit.

The fairy-tale began at the end of the first lap, when Marc passed Aleix in Turn 13. Aleix passed him back, but Marc was having none of it and made his next pass stick.

Behind them the shuffling began. Miller passed Fabulous and took fourth, while back in 12th, Mir managed to put in the fastest lap, but no-one noticed because Marquez was leading, and he looked serious.

Then Miguel Oliveira passed Fabulous and relegated him back into sixth. Petrucci and Alex Marquez retired into the stones, and the race settled into a processional rhythm – Marquez leading, Aleix following, then Zarco, Miller, Oliveira, Fabulous and a somewhat zesty Brad Binder in seventh.

About seven laps in, rain drops began to appear on visors and the white rain flag came out – and Marquez took this as a signal to put the hammer down. If the rain got worse, then they would have to come in and change bikes. So it made sense to get as far in front as he could if and when that happened.

But it didn’t happen. The rain stayed away, and apart from the raindrops terrifying Aleix and allowing Miller to pass him, the conditions suited Marc perfectly. In short order he had eked out a 1.5-second lead on Miller. Zarco had fallen into Binder’s clutches as Aleix steadily went backwards, but Oliveira was not scared of a few raindrops, and closed on Miller.

With a huge 19 laps to go, Miguel passed Jack, and set off after Marc, who was now some 1.8-seconds in front. Aleix was in fourth, Fabulous in fifth, and Zarco was fending off Binder in sixth.

Oliveira was now the fastest man on the track, but Marquez was determined, and the following laps saw him stretch his lead out to two seconds, and it became a race of steely nerve for both him and Oliveira. The two of them gapped the rest of the field and started trading fastest laps. Miguel would close in to within a second or so, and Marc would respond – and lap after lap he managed his lead brilliantly.

The two of them were the only riders lapping in the 1.21s, so the only thing left to race for was third place. Vinales seemed to have a lock on 18th position, so at least that was settled.

Mir, Rins, Rossi, Marini, Taka, and rookie Martin were all flubbing about mid-field, and only Baganaia seemed interested in making his way towards the front. But there was no catching Marquez and Oliveira.

As the race wound down into the last ten laps, and tyre-drop-off was expected – Sachsenring is very hard on hoops – Oliveira did look like he might catch Marc. But each time the Portuguese rider closed the gap, Marc would respond, and stayed a second or so ahead.

Binder passed Zarco for sixth place, and Fabulous passed Miller to grab third. But third place was more than three-and-a-half seconds behind the Oliveira and Marquez.

Binder and Bagnaia were now starting to make their presence felt, and they hammered their way past Miller, Aleix, and Zarco, but Fabulous was a bridge too far.

And all eyes were on the struggle at the front. But Marquez was not going to be caught, and he broke Oliveira’s will maybe three laps from the end of the race, sailing over the finish line one-point-six seconds ahead of the Portuguese rider.

A fully-clothed Fabulous was some five seconds behind Miguel, and then another second separated Binder from Peco.

Marquez had won. A comeback for the ages, and a win that tore at him emotionally and physically. But a richly deserved one for all that. It was impossible not to feel for the Spaniard, who was clearly overwrought in Parc Ferme.

The Cathedral of Speed is next. Legendary Assen.

And Assen is invariably a freak-show of epic proportions. It never fails to deliver some spectacular racing and some often-unexpected results.

Is the King back for real? I guess we’re gonna see in a few short days.

2021 Sachsenring MotoGP Race Results

2021 MotoGP Standings

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar
June 23 Update