Marquez eases to win over Dovizioso at Brno

Marquez leads Dovizioso from start to finish
Marquez leads Dovizioso from start to finish

Repsol Honda ace Marc Marquez beat his nearest title rival Andrea Dovizioso to take his sixth MotoGP victory of the season in a delayed Czech Grand Prix at Brno.

Saturday’s dreary conditions were initially nowhere to be seen as race day at the Czech GP began. But a brief rain shower half an hour before the start of the MotoGP race left the track with wet patches and led to a delayed start and a reduced race distance of 20 laps.

After securing pole by 2.524 seconds in thrilling style on Saturday, MotoGP World Championship leader Marc Marquez shot forward to lead the shortened race as the lights went out. With the likes of Dovizioso, Rins and Miller behind, Marquez settled into a consistent pace and steadily opened up a half second lead over his rivals by lap ten. Even with a moment at Turn 10, Marquez’s lead continued to grow as the race went on.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]With an advantage of over two seconds, Marquez crossed the line to claim victory in Brno and his sixth win of 2019. He becomes just the fourth rider in Grand Prix history to take 50 wins in the premier class and equals Mike Hailwood’s 76 wins across all classes. Fourth on the all time winner list, Marquez heads to round 11 in Austria with 210 points – 63 points clear of second placed Dovizioso.

The Spaniard finally crossed the line with 2.452s in hand over Dovizioso to claim his 50th premier class win and stretch his championship lead to 63 points with nine races remaining.

Dovizioso led home fellow Ducati man Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), the Australian beating Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins in the latter stages to earn his second rostrum of the year.

Rossi was the top Yamaha finisher in sixth ahead of Petronas SRT rider Fabio Quartararo and the second factory Ducati of Danilo Petrucci.

Completing the top 10 were Takaaki Nakagami's LCR Honda and the sister works Yamaha of Maverick Vinales, who was forced to recover from a dismal start which left in 15th in the early laps.

Marc Marquez 93 1ST
“I was really concentrated from the beginning as there were still some wet patches, especially at Turn 1. I knew I needed to keep my rhythm as the Yamaha riders were starting from behind and they were strong in Warm Up. Then I saw that Dovi was behind me so I had to keep pushing and pushing. I had a little warning on lap 10 because that is when I started to push more to try and open the gap. Delaying the race was the best decision that could have been made because the track was in a mixed condition and it could have been quite dangerous. A crazy weekend with the weather but the whole Repsol Honda Team were perfect and helped me a lot to achieve victory!"

Race Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Laps Behind
1 93 Marc Marquez Honda 20 0.000s
2 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 20 2.452
3 43 Jack Miller Ducati 20 3.497
4 42 Alex Rins Suzuki 20 4.858
5 35 Cal Crutchlow Honda 20 6.007
6 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 20 9.083
7 20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 20 12.092
8 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 20 13.976
9 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda 20 15.724
10 12 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 20 16.558
11 44 Pol Espargaro KTM 20 18.234
12 63 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 20 19.738
13 88 Miguel Oliveira KTM 20 22.539
14 5 Johann Zarco KTM 20 30.459
15 6 Stefan Bradl Honda 20 30.500
16 53 Tito Rabat Ducati 20 30.755
17 29 Andrea Iannone Aprilia 20 37.170
18 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 20 37.343
19 17 Karel Abraham Ducati 20 44.296
20 50 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki 20 48.938
DNF 55 Hafizh Syahrin KTM 6
DNF 21 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 0
DNF 36 Joan Mir Suzuki 0

Rider Standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Marquez Marc 93 SPA 210 Repsol Honda Team Honda
2 Dovizioso Andrea 4 ITA 147 Mission Winnow Ducati Ducati
3 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA 129 Mission Winnow Ducati Ducati
4 Rins Alex 42 SPA 114 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
5 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA 91 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
6 Rossi Valentino 46 ITA 90 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
7 Miller Jack 43 AUS 86 Pramac Racing Ducati
8 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR 78 LCR Honda Honda
9 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA 76 Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha
10 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA 61 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
11 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN 57 LCR Honda Honda
12 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA 52 Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha
13 Mir Joan 36 SPA 39 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
14 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA 31 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
15 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA 21 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
16 Lorenzo Jorge 99 SPA 19 Repsol Honda Team Honda
17 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR 18 Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM
18 Zarco Johann 5 FRA 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
19 Bagnaia Francesco 63 ITA 15 Pramac Racing Ducati
20 Rabat Tito 53 SPA 14 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati
21 Bradl Stefan 6 GER 13 Repsol Honda Team Honda
22 Pirro Michele 51 ITA 9 Mission Winnow Ducati Ducati
23 Guintoli Sylvain 50 FRA 3 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
24 Abraham Karel 17 CZE 3 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati
25 Syahrin Hafizh 55 MAL 3 Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM