Will Power wins in IndyCar, while Marquez dominates MotoGP

Will Power takes Toronto Indy

The Aussie is the form driver but has he left his title run too late?

Australian Will Power has taken his third IndyCar win on the streets of Toronta to close within 47 points of championship leader, his Penske-Chevrolet team-mate Simon Pagenaud, who managed only ninth in Canada at the weekend.

Power missed the opening race of the season with medical issues after a crash and after a quiet start to his 2016 campaign has come on strong to win three of the past four races (plus a second last weekend in Iowa) to fire himself back into title contention.

“We’re definitely closing,” said Power after leading home another Penske driver, Helio Castroneves and hometown hero James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Honda) in the Toronto 85 lapper.

While 47 points is a formidable margin, Power made it clear he hasn’t given up on the 2016 crown.

Power, who previously won the event in 2007 and 2010, was 1.5275 seconds clear of second place.

Power started the race from fourth.

Scott Dixon, the pole sitter, jumped out to a good start and maintained an almost two second difference between himself and standings leader Simon Pagenaud after 54 laps. The New Zealander, however, was caught by a yellow on lap 58, finishing a frustrating eighth.

In a race defining move, Power made it to the pits before the pitlane closed and this left him up front.

The four-strong Penske squad had a mixed day. Juan Montoya was for some time the fastest driver in the race but finished 20th after contact with Jack Hawkworth just four laps from the finish.

Brave tyre call and even braver riding lands Marquez victory in Germany

Honda star produced magic to take a sensational seventh Sachsenring win.

From nowhere, Marc Marquez and his Honda team pulled a stunning early call to switch from rain tyres to slicks setting up a stunning win in the German MotoGP race at the Sachsenring - his seventh consecutively victory there.

Soaking rain meant the German Grand prix was declared a wet race, throwing the race wide open and allowing the possibility of Jack Miller to repeat his brilliant Assen triumph.

But then there were almost no further signs of rain, making tyre choice more important than ever.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha MotoGP) controlled the early laps as slowly a narrow dry line appeared.

Pole man Marquez struggled initially, simply unable to match the pace of the leaders. Then he ran off at Turn Eight and was lucky to stay upright.

He seemed destined for a modest return until he deployed the master call. On lap 17, just beyond the halfway point, Marquez entered the pits for slicks when the leaders remained on wets and others went to intermediates. Marquez’s lap times were immediately four seconds faster than those on wets leading the race, his pace inexorably increasing.

Six laps from the chequer, the unstoppable Marquez took the lead and never looked back. His lead at the top of the championship has blown out to 47 points, following his win and the sad race of nearest rival Jorge Lorenzo, whose Yamaha faded to 15th.

Behind Marquez, there was further action. An inspired Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) got faster and faster to secure second place and return to the podium for the first time since Argentina in 2015.

A delay in switching to slicks cost Dovizioso track position but the Ducati man salvaged third out of a race that promised more.

Aussie Miller rolled the dice and elected to try to get his fading wets to the finish, hitting the lead briefly but ultimately opting to change to slicks after Marquez raced by him. Miller rescued seventh place.

Rossi’s tardiness was costly too, the superstar ignoring pit calls to stay out. He came home in eighth, closing in on his teammate in the championship but losing out to Marquez once more.

Marquez is peerless at the Sachsenring – he has scored pole seven years in a row (the last four in the premier class). And he has won seven races consecutively

“In the first part of the race, in the wet, I found things a little difficult,” Marquez reported later. “I had picked the wrong front tyre for my riding style, but I was able to switch to slicks. I was very careful in the opening laps after changing bikes, because the dry line was very narrow and there was still a lot of water on the surface. It’s always very difficult to decide when to change bikes, and perhaps we made our switch very early—I think I was the second rider to do so—but I decided to take a chance and it went well.”

Earlier, Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger provided a thriller in a wet and dangerous Moto2 grand prix in which 12 drivers fell, some twice.

Remy Gardner finished 12th for Tasca Scuderia after a sensible ride in the conditions, scoring his second career Moto2 world championship points. “The race was tough; it was my first time on a Moto2 bike in the wet and whilst I wasn't super-fast our mission was to finish the race and we did that. I wasn't crazy fast but I was consistent and finishing races in these conditions pays off.”

Khairul Pawi, a 17-year-old Malay with unbelievable touch in slippery conditions, scored a stunning win in Moto3, winning by the huge margin of 11.1 seconds.

It was rookie Pawi’s second GP win in just 10 starts.

By the end of the first lap, Pawi had shot from 20th to seventh, He was in front by the start of lap five.

Earlier this year, Pawi was the first Malaysian to win a grand prix. Now he has won two.

MotoGP now takes a short summer break before the paddock re-convenes for the next race of 2016, which will be at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on August 14.