Marc Marquez opened up his lead at the top of the MotoGP standings with his fourth straight victory from pole position at Germany's Sachsenring, as Ireland's Euegene Laverty held on to his top-10 position in the overall standings after an 11th-placed finish on his Ducati. 

With rain falling before the race, pole-sitter Marquez struggled from the start and dropped down to fifth - with his Honda unable to keep up with the Italian pair of Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi at the front of the field.

However, with the track drying out the Spaniard came into the pits for slick tyres and it proved to be the catalyst for what, across all class of racing, was his seventh consecutive victory at the Sachsenring.

The afternoon proved to be a good one all round for Marquez, whose main title challenger Jorge Lorenzo took one point, with the reigning champion finishing down in 15th on his Yamaha.

It was better news for Britain's Cal Crutchlow who, like Marquez, made plentiful progress in the wet conditions and collected his first podium of the season by guiding his Honda to second place.

The third step on the podium went to Dovizioso but it was Marquez who was left celebrating yet again in Saxony as he stretched his lead in the championship to 48 points ahead of the next race at Austria's Red Bull Ring next month.

Antrim man Laverty clocked 47:44.447 12 to stay 10th overall.

MotoGP overall standings:  1. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 170 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha     122 3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 111 4. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 96  5. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki  83  6. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 72  7. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati  65  8. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 63 9. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati  59 10. Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Ducati  53