Sachsenring MotoGP: Motorsport.com's rider ratings
For a second race in a row, the arrival of rain turned the MotoGP form book on its head as the season reached the halfway point at a soaking Sachsenring. Jamie Klein evaluates who fared best in the treacherous conditions.
Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP
Jorge Lorenzo - 2
The worst weekend of Lorenzo's MotoGP career? Perhaps the only positive the reigning champion can draw from the Sachsenring is he managed to avoid injuring himself in his three crashes at the German track that remains unquestionably one of his 'bogey' venues. Despite having scored a scant seven points in the last three races, Lorenzo insists his title hopes are still alive, but 48 points to an in-form Marquez is an awfully big gap to breach in the remaining nine races.
Valentino Rossi - 6
For the second race in succession, Rossi failed to make the most of conditions in which he has tended to thrive in the past, although unlike at Assen he was at least able to bank a solid finish with eighth. A contender in the full wet conditions early stages, the Italian admitted he was "too slow" once he pitted for his second bike, equipped with intermediates. A sixth place may have been possible had he changed bikes sooner, he said, but no more than that.
Marc Marquez - 10
Utterly immaculate. Some will argue that Marquez lucked into the right pit strategy after his excursion into the gravel at Turn 8, but how many other riders would have been able to do what he did, especially a few hours on from that warm-up crash? Pol Espargaro, who followed him out, crashing just behind him was the perfect demonstration of just how risky slicks were at that point of the race. Sublime riding from a man looking increasingly like a three-time champion.
Dani Pedrosa - 6
On a track where Honda riders usually run rampant, Pedrosa failed to make the most of a big opportunity to claw back vital points on the struggling Yamahas as he took sixth, 16 seconds back on the LCR machine of Cal Crutchlow and only just ahead of Jack Miller. A bike problem stopped him from pitting as early as he would have liked, but the real damage was done in the first phase, when he simply couldn't recreate the speed that saw him top morning warm-up.
Andrea Dovizioso - 8
Seven years on from his last MotoGP win, it seemed for a while that Dovizioso could break a losing streak that now spans 160 races as he stretched a two second lead in the early stages once Danilo Petrucci crashed out. But, in the second phase, the Ducati rider used the intermediate front tyre and was no match for the pace of Crutchlow on slicks. That said, he had no chance of beating Marquez pitting so late, and in the circumstances third was still a strong return.
Andrea Iannone - 6
Neither works Ducati rider looked especially competitive in qualifying, but it's fair to say that Dovizioso - not to mention both Pramac riders - made more use of the chance provided by the wet conditions than Iannone. The first rider to pit, 'The Maniac' went to intermediates, and the gamble paid off to an extent as he leapfrogged the likes of Rossi, Barbera and Miller to take fifth. Another solid weekend when there was ample opportunity to live up to his crash-happy reputation.
Maverick Vinales - 6
Just like in Assen, Suzuki was at sea (if you'll excuse the pun) in the wet, paying for its lack of experience with optimising its electronics to such conditions. Therefore, all Vinales could do was beat teammate Aleix Espargaro - and barring a few laps in the early stages, he managed exactly that, although in the end it was only enough for 12th. Loses a point for only qualifying sixth when practice pace suggested he could have made the front row.
Aleix Espargaro - 4
Like Vinales, the elder Espargaro brother's rating has to be filtered through the lens of Suzuki's lacklustre showing in general, but even so this was yet another weekend where the Aprilia-bound Spaniard was overshadowed dramatically by his younger colleague. Did well to only trail Vinales by a tenth in qualifying, but ended up a mammoth 24 seconds down in the race, Bradley Smith passing him in the closing stages and demoting him to an unsavoury 14th.
Cal Crutchlow - 9
Twenty-four races on from his last visit to the podium, this was vintage Crutchlow, who took full advantage of both the conditions and a track well-suited to his Honda. Quickly rebounding from a poor start, the Briton had the pace to rival anyone in wet and dry, and could have been celebrating a maiden win if not for Marquez's strategic masterstroke. All of that said, there was little excuse for being as low down on the grid as 13th, which stops him from getting a perfect 10.
Bradley Smith - 4
Smith's miserable year continued at the Sachsenring with a long, grinding ride to 13th - incidentally making him second best of the Yamaha contingent, not that this was much to shout about on this occasion. His race was compromised from the outset when he lost his left knee slider in a first-lap collision with Yonny Hernandez, and from thereon it was pretty much an unrewarding exercise in damage limitation.
Pol Espargaro - 6
It might seem odd to award a rider who crashed out of the race two points more than his teammate, but Espargaro was light years ahead of Smith for pace during much of the weekend, qualifying on the second row with another sterling effort. Struggled in full wet conditions, which inspired him to follow Marquez into the pits for slicks - a decision he thinks he could have paid off handsomely with a podium finish before he lost the front end at Turn 2.
Scott Redding - 8
It's a promising sign when a young charger like Redding expresses his frustration at missing the podium when most satellite Ducati riders would be delighted with a fourth place finish. Having got a taste for the rostrum in similar conditions at Assen, the Gloucester-born rider was looking good for a repeat until being passed by Dovizioso on the final tour, and was left to regret a choice to go for intermediates on his second bike instead of slicks.
Danilo Petrucci - 7
Having had a shot at victory cruelly prised from his grasp with engine woes at Assen, Petrucci must have been unable to believe his luck when the heavens opened in Germany on Sunday morning. That said, the happy-go-lucky Italian was rapid in the dry, too, qualifying a strong fourth, and quickly took charge at the head of the field to lead at the 10 lap-mark before the front end folded beneath him without warning. A sad end to another phenomenal showing.
Hector Barbera - 8
Nine races down, and the top-scoring Ducati rider of the campaign so far is Avintia's Barbera, who is making a habit of embarrassing more celebrated riders and well-funded teams. Qualifying was a highlight, as the Spaniard stormed to an incredible second on the grid, but what was arguably more impressive was how he stayed in podium contention right up until the bike swaps - at which point his pace dropped off, and he slumped to a still-respectable ninth.
Jack Miller - 9
Grand prix racing's newest winner once again revelled in the tricky conditions at the Sachsenring, a track he knows well from his German championship days, making up 10 places on the opening lap to launch himself into contention for another top result. Had Miller followed the leaders into the pits instead of staying out another two laps, he could well have found himself on the podium for a second race in a row, but instead had to settle for seventh.
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