Marc Márquez has scored his fourth-straight MotoGP victory with a superb ride at the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.
The rookie Spaniard beat home Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa with defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo in third.
The Yamaha rider got the jump at the start and pulled a healthy margin through the first half of the race. The Honda duo then hunted Lorenzo down setting-up a grandstand finish.
With 10 laps to run some light drizzle fell on the track and crews even prepared the bikes with the wet weather tyres. However, they were not needed as the leading trio battled through to the finish.
Five laps to run and Márquez took the lead, before Lorenzo snuck back in front the following lap. It didn’t last long as first Márquez passed Lorenzo then the following lap Pedrosa got past with three tours from the finish.
Behind Alvaro Bautista got the better of Valentino Rossi to finish in fourth place.
A tough day for pole man Cal Crutchlow who after being shuffled back at the start, crashed with 15 lap remaining. He did re-join the race, but finished back down in 17th place. It was better than Tech3 Yamaha team-mate Bradley Smith who crashed out of the race in the opening laps.
RESULTS: Czech MotorGP – Brno
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 166.4 | 42’50.729 |
| 2 | 20 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 166.4 | +0.313 |
| 3 | 16 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 166.3 | +2.277 |
| 4 | 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 165.8 | +10.101 |
| 5 | 11 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | Honda | 165.8 | +10.178 |
| 6 | 10 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 165.1 | +19.807 |
| 7 | 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 164.2 | +35.015 |
| 8 | 8 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 164.1 | +35.354 |
| 9 | 7 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing | Ducati | 163.2 | +51.149 |
| 10 | 6 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 162.8 | +56.392 |
| 11 | 5 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR Kawasaki | 162.8 | +57.420 |
| 12 | 4 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | Ignite Pramac Racing | Ducati | 162.3 | +1’05.430 |
| 13 | 3 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 161.9 | +1’12.364 |
| 14 | 2 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | JPN | Avintia Blusens | FTR | 161.8 | +1’13.500 |
| 15 | 1 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 161.7 | +1’14.128 |
| 16 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 161.7 | +1’14.991 | |
| 17 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 161.3 | +1’20.640 | |
| 18 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM | 160.5 | +1’34.462 | |
| 19 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | ART | 159.6 | +1’49.713 | |
| 20 | 67 | Bryan STARING | AUS | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | FTR Honda | 159.6 | +1’50.024 | |
| 21 | 45 | Martin BAUER | AUT | Remus Racing Team | S&B Suter | 152.5 | 1 Lap | |
| Not Classified | ||||||||
| 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 161.4 | 20 Laps | ||
| 52 | Lukas PESEK | CZE | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 156.0 | 20 Laps | ||
| 71 | Claudio CORTI | ITA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR Kawasaki | 152.4 | 21 Laps | ||
| 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | FTR | 152.2 | 21 Laps | ||
