Marc Marquez underlined his status as the most exciting rider in the sport with another superb victory in the Czech Republic MotoGP at Brno on Sunday. The 20-year-old Spaniard started from third on the grid but would not be denied, riding a perfect race on his way to a fourth consecutive win and fifth of the season overall. Marquez now has a 26-point championship lead over his Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, who was second on the day, and is a full 44 points clear of Yamaha rival Jorge Lorenzo, who finished third.
The race was a three-way battle between Marquez, Pedrosa and Lorenzo, who led for most of the day but came under increasing pressure from the Honda duo over the closing laps. Pole sitter Cal Crutchlow surrendered his advantage right at the start and later fell while chasing down the leading trio, eventually finishing a disappointing 17th after rejoining at the back of the field. With Crutchlow out of the way and the 22-year wait for a British MotoGP winner set to continue, the three Championship leaders resumed their battle at the front, with Lorenzo holding the advantage after snatching the lead away from the line.
Marquez and Pedrosa gradually started closing onto Lorenzo’s tail, however, and by the halfway mark the three riders were locked in a tight battle, with second-placed Marquez in particular itching to break free. Light rain started to fall and the white flag started flying to add to the tension, though ultimately the leaders would not need to pit and change to wet tyres. With eight laps to go, Marquez finally snatched the lead for the first time at Turn 3, but Lorenzo stuck it around the outside to reclaim the advantage only one turn later. The pair exchanged positions once more before Marquez would again use Turn 3 to his advantage to grab the lead – this time for good. Instead of pressuring Marquez at the front, Lorenzo found himself in a battle with third-placed Pedrosa, who managed to pull off a decisive passing move two laps from the end. There was no time for Pedrosa to chase down Marquez however, and the 20-year-old powered to his fifth win of the season – the most by any rookie in the history of the premier class. Fourth place went to Valentino Rossi, ultimately winning his race-long battle with Alvaro Bautista, who had to settle for fifth. Stefan Bradl, meanwhile, rode a lonely race on his way to sixth place.
RESULTS
1 Marc Marquez Honda 42m50.729s
2 Dani Pedrosa Honda +0.313s
3 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha +2.277s
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha +10.101s
5 Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda +10.178s
6 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda +19.807s
7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati +35.015s
8 Nicky Hayden Ducati +35.354s
9 Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati +51.149s
10 Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia +56.392s
11 Colin Edwards Forward FTR-Kawasaki +57.420s
12 Michele Pirro Pramac Ducati +1m05.430s
13 Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter-BMW +1m12.364s
14 Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia FTR-Kawasaki +1m13.500s
15 Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia +1m14.128s
16 Yonny Hernandez PBM Aprilia +1m14.991s
17 Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha +1m20.640s
18 Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia +1m34.462s
19 Karel Abraham Cardion Aprilia +1m49.713s
20 Bryan Staring Gresini FTR-Honda +1m50.024s 21 Martin Bauer Remus Aprilia +1 lap
Retirements
Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 2 laps
Lukas Pesek Ioda-Suter-BMW 2 laps
Claudio Corti Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1 lap
Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1 lap
