MotoGP Race Results From the Czech Republic Grand Prix | Lorenzo Tops the Brno Podium

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was untouchable at the bwin Czech GP as he went on to take the win by 4.462s from Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, with Valentino Rossi in third. Lorenzo now sits on top of the MotoGP World Championship standings with 211 points along with teammate Rossi, also with 211. The victory is Lorenzo’s fifth of the season.

Conditions were almost perfect at the 3.2-mile Automotodrom Brno, with the sun shining and track temperatures topping 100 degrees. Over 138,000 fans filled the grandstands to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first GP at Brno, and the scene was set for a showdown between the top three riders in the championship standings. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that all three riders had gone for different tire choices. Lorenzo on a medium front and rear, Rossi on a hard front and rear, and Marquez with a medium front and hard rear.

Any hopes of a dramatic three-way battle between Lorenzo, Marquez and Rossi were dashed almost immediately as Rossi got bogged down at the start. The Italian had worked hard during practice and qualifying to ensure that he didn’t let Marquez and Lorenzo disappear at the start of the race as in Indianapolis. It was all to be for nothing though, as he found himself down in fifth at the first corner.

Lorenzo and Marquez immediately opened a gap at the front, which had increased to 1.5 seconds at the end of the first lap. Rossi found himself held up behind Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso, and by the time he got past past Dovi on the second lap, the gap to his rivals was already over two seconds.

Marquez was matching the pace of Lorenzo and they were both lapping almost 0.5s a lap quicker than Rossi and after six laps the gap was up to four seconds. Lorenzo even started to pull away from Marquez, opening up a half of a second gap over his compatriot by lap nine. This had increased to two seconds by lap 12, with Lorenzo once again managing the gap perfectly as no one had an answer to his electric pace. The two-time MotoGP World Champion went on to take his 38th MotoGP victory by the comfortable margin of 4.4 seconds from Marquez. Rossi eventually crossed the line 10.397s behind Lorenzo to finish third, and continuing his run of having finished on the podium at every race this season.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (+13.071s) finished in fourth after an excellent battle towards the end of the race with teammate Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda). Pedrosa, who was nursing a bruised left foot after his high-side crash in FP2, worked his way up through the field from ninth on the grid. With six laps remaining, he caught Iannone and Dovizioso who were fourth and fifth at the time.

After Iannone and Dovizioso almost touched, Iannone made a slight break to take fourth, and left his teammate to deal with Pedrosa. During the final laps, each rider overtook each other a number of times. Pedrosa (+0.15.650s) made a move up the inside of turn 11 on the final lap and held on to cross the line in fifth ahead of Dovizioso (+15.725s).

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith enjoyed a great start to find himself in third at the very first corner. Smith could not quite match the pace of the leaders though, and found himself falling back, eventually crossing the line as the leading Satellite rider in seventh. His teammate Pol Espargaro was in eighth, ahead of his brother Aleix on the Team Suzuki Ecstar in ninth, with Octo Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci completing the top 10.

Petrucci’s teammate Yonny Hernandez followed him across the line in 11th, ahead of Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS Racing) and the two Factory Aprilias of Stefan Bradl (13th) and Alvaro Bautista (14th).

Forward Racing’s Loris Baz managed to finish in 15th for his team on their return to competition after being forced to miss the Indianapolis GP due to financial issues. The Frenchman took the Open class victory by less than a second from Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera in 16th. Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team) was next across the line in 17th as the leading Open class Honda.

There were crashes for Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team), Cal Crutchlow (CWM LR Honda) and Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) while Alex De Angelis (E-Motion IodaRacing Team) was forced to retire.

Lorenzo’s win sees him replace his teammate Rossi at the top of the MotoGP World championship standings. Although both are tied at 211 points, Lorenzo has the advantage with five race wins compared to Rossi’s three. Marc Marquez (159pts) remains in third, 52 points behind the Movistar Yamaha teammates.

MotoGP Race Results From Czech GP

Not Classified
Maverick VIÑALES (25) Team Suzuki Ecstar SUZUKI
Cal CRUTCHLOW (35) CWM LCR Honda HONDA
Eugene LAVERTY (50) Aspar MotoGP Team HONDA
Alex DE ANGELIS (15) Octo IodaRacing Team ART