Despite crashing out of contention at the Sachsenring, Team Suzuki Ecstar rider Andrea Iannone says he's happy about the German GP because it spelled big progress.

Starting further back on the grid after a washed out qualifying day, the Italian made great progress forward in the race before the crash, but crucially got his confidence back - and the feeling on the bike.

"I’m very happy about this race - of course not for the result, but because of the progress that we’ve made. We took an important step forward during the weekend." He said

"I got my confidence back. I have a better feel for the bike and finally I can push it more or less as I want."

"We started from behind in the grid and that affected the whole race. Apart from that, the first three laps I struggled with rear grip," he added "but then I managed to keep pace with the second group."

"I tried to push hard to recover, but I crashed. However, until that point my times were good as was my satisfaction with the bike."

Marc Marquez took his 8th victory in 8 years at the Sachsenring today, but it wasn't as easy as it looked for the Spaniard as he had home hero Jonas Folger on his tail for the majority of the race.

He crossed the line with a three second lead on the German, but throughout the race the gap was as little as 0.2 seconds.

Marquez: “Honestly, it was a very difficult race, I knew before the weekend this was a circuit where I needed to attack and my target was 25 points. Before the race everything was under control and I had the right tyres, and I thought my teammate would be the main rival."

"Then at the start I was just trying to concentrate and then Jonas passed me, I was thinking it was good to have another rider between me and the others but then on the pitboard it was +0.1, +0.1… I started thinking ‘ok, what are you doing here?!’ then I realised he was going to be there to the end. I was pushing myself, I’m happy. It’s amazing how before I was 37 points down! Everything is very tight and it’s almost starting from zero. We’ll try. Also, something special I promised to myself was that after Hayden’s accident, my first win would be for him and his family so this is for them.”

Marquez now leads the championship by 5 points from Movistar Yamaha's Maverick Viñales. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) is hot on Viñales' heels, with only one point separating the two as we head into the summer break.

Maverick Viñales had a tough qualifying session in the wet on Saturday at the Sachsenring. He lined up on the grid in 11th, but made up the positions in the race to finish 4th. He currently sits 2nd in the championship standings after losing his lead to Andrea Dovizioso after Assen. Now, Marc Marquez's impressive win today sees him sitting at the top, but Viñales is still confident about his championship hopes.

Viñales (P4): "I'm really confident about the Championship. Starting from eleventh and in the end arriving in P4 losing a lot of time overtaking riders, I was still quite close to Dani, so that means we really did a good job during the whole race. My impressions of the race are good, we did a good job to recover the maximum number of positions, which today was to fourth. We are quite happy, we know we still need to improve the bike, but overall it was quite nice."

"After Assen being in second place is positive, but compared to after Mugello it isn't as positive because we were creating a gap in the standings. We suffered a lot in Montmeló and made a mistake in Assen, but overall it's quite good, even with the mistakes we are still at the front. To continue like that we need to work a little bit more, especially in qualifying and preparing better for the race. It's all in our hands to try to make it better. I will try to improve my riding style and to come back stronger and fitter, so a one-month break will be good."