SAXONY, Germany — official release — Repsol Honda photo — Nine-for-nine.

Not even rain and wet conditions could stop reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez from winning his ninth grand prix in nine races this season Sunday at Germany’s Sachsenring.

“Before going out on track I thought it would be a similar race to the Assen, but in the end the surface dried out very quickly,” Marquez said. “I saw on the grid that Bradl had gone with the slick tire option and I really had my doubts, because the area around the back of the track was still wet. I finally decided to see what Dani and Valentino were going to do, as they are my main rivals in the Championship and if you get it wrong in these races, you can lose a lot of points. That’s why I decided to copy their strategy. The race was nice, especially the first part which was when I enjoyed it the most.”

The start of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland MotoGP was disrupted by pre-race rain, with race winner Marc Marquez and podium finishers Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo all getting away from pit lane.

From third on the grid, Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) started alone toward the front on slick tires and led the early laps after rain in the race build up caused confusion as to which tires would work best. With the track drying quickly much of the rest of the field changed from wet set-up to dry after the final warm-up lap, meaning they had to start from pit lane.

Bradl’s bike set-up appeared to let him down with slicks hurriedly fitted to a previously wet set-up bike on the grid. He eventually dropped to 16th place in his home race.

Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was in imperious form once again to make it nine wins from nine, cutting through the pack in a chaotic first few laps and eventually pulling clear at the front with teammate Pedrosa, who ultimately crossed the line 1.5 seconds behind Marquez.

A further nine seconds back Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) returned to the podium before the summer break.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) finished fourth with impressive Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) as the top Ducati-equipped rider taking fifth.

Brothers Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) were sixth and seventh respectively.

The top 10 was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team).