After a year off the MotoGP calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sachsenring hosts the eighth round of the 2021 season this weekend. For Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró this will be the first of two races in as many weeks, going into the summer break. Both completed a positive test in Barcelona on the Monday following the previous round.
The Sachsenring is a favourite track for Márquez, where he has achieved ten consecutive victories: One in 125cc, two in Moto2 and seven in MotoGP. This year he comes into the German Grand Prix in a very different situation, with the aim of continuing to recover well after the intense test carried out in Barcelona and several days rest.
For Espargaró, the event will be an opportunity to keep progressing with the Honda RC213V. The Repsol Honda Team rider faces the German Grand Prix intending to confirm the steps forward taken at recent rounds, and rack up further kilometres at a new track for him onboard his 2021 bike.
Rider statements
“After the test day in Barcelona, the week between races went very well to recover. In this test we worked a lot and now we come to the Sachsenring where I have always enjoyed riding in the past. This year of course we arrive in a different position, but hopefully the layout should allow us to be more competitive from the physical side. Let’s see what the weekend brings.”
“We arrive here in Germany after a good day of testing in Spain. It has been a hard few races so it is important to keep our focus and do what we can this weekend. The Honda has been strong here in the past and with what we found in the test I hope that we can make some steps forward. Everything in MotoGP is so close so even a small improvement will help a lot, especially on Saturdays. We now have two races before the summer break, we want to head into the break on a positive.”