2021 German MotoGP, Sachsenring - Full Race Results

Marc Marquez sensationally wins the 2021 German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, his first MotoGP victory (and podium) since last year's serious arm injury and ending Honda's longest MotoGP win drought since 1982! 

Catalunya winner Oliveira did his best to hunt down Marquez throughout the second half of the race, while Quartararo completed the podium to extend his title lead.

Starting from Aprilia's first ever MotoGP front-row, Espargaro had snatched the holeshot at turn 1 but with Marquez squeezing into second place.

The Repsol Honda star - unbeaten at the track since the 125cc class in 2009 - then passed Espargaro to lead at the end of lap 1, for the first time in a dry MotoGP race since Valencia 2019.

Marquez stubbornly kept his advantage by fighting back whenever the Aprilia rider attacked, but the lap times showed riders were clearly in tyre-conservation mode.

That all changed when the feared rain began falling with 22 laps remaining, triggering Marquez to bolt and Miller to quickly pass Espargaro for second.

The shower soon passed leaving Marquez with an advantage of 2.0s by the midway stage, but with Oliveira replacing Miller in second and the only rider on track able to match Marquez's pace.

Momentum looked to swing in Oliveira's favour with 12 laps to go when he began nimbling into Marquez's lead, while Quartararo climbed into a rostrum place by passing Miller, but was already too far adrift to challenge for victory.

Despite Marquez's Honda starting to squirm and kick on corner exit, perhaps amplified by the Spaniard's lack of physical strength, Marquez kept Oliveira at arm's length for lap after lap, then broke the Portuguese rider's challenge by pulling 1.5s clear with 3 laps to go.

Marquez dropped his head onto the fuel tank as he crossed the line for his first win in 17-months and later fought back tears in parc ferme, having gone through three rounds of surgery in the infected right arm he fractured at Jerez last July.

After a weekend of roasting hot weather, some rain spots half an hour before the race kept riders and teams on their toes, prompting some to scrub in wet tyres on their way to the grid.

While the rain didn't develop before the start, the increased cloud meant temperatures were lower than predicted for what is always a tyre-torturing race.

All but Nakagami chose the medium rear, the Japanese opting for the soft. Most riders remained on the hard front with Nakagami, Vinales, Bagnaia and Martin on the medium.

Rins was returning to action for Suzuki after missing Barcelona due to a fractured wrist in a bicycle accident. Bastianini had a three place grid penalty for slow riding in Qualifying 1.

A tangle between Alex Marquez and Petrucci took both riders out early on at Turn 1, with the incident under investigation but later declared a racing incident.

Morbidelli and Vinales never recovered from their poor grid positions.

The Dutch TT at Assen, the last race before the MotoGP summer break, takes place next weekend.

* Rookie