Marquez takes fifth consecutive MotoGP double win at Brno
MotoGP

Marquez takes fifth consecutive MotoGP double win at Brno

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
2 min read

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez completed his fifth consecutive weekend double by winning the returning Czech Grand Prix at Brno.

A clumsy crash for his main championship rival, brother Alex Marquez, means Marc's lead in the championship is now up to a brutal 120 points.

With positions maintained off the line, Marquez attempted the same opening-lap Turn 3 move on poleman Pecco Bagnaia like that one that had given him the lead in the sprint on Saturday.

This time, however, Bagnaia cut back to assume a tighter line through the corner, forcing Marquez into a sub-optimal corner entry at Turn 4 that sent the championship leader out wide.

So not only did Bagnaia retake the lead, but Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi behind them capitalised to pick off Marquez into Turn 5.

Bagnaia then ran wide in the penultimate corner of the lap, and though he led over the line he was overtaken by Bezzecchi into Turn 1, then by Marquez into Turn 3.

The pair's pace was too strong for Bagnaia, who also dropped behind Pedro Acosta - with the KTM rider able to close in on the leading duo as Marquez shadowed Bezzecchi.

But when Marquez finally worked his way past Bezzecchi at that very same Turn 3, it took him very little time to establish a lead of over a second.

It hovered at around a second and a half for a portion of the race, then briefly ticked over two seconds, before Marquez eased up to win by 1.753s.

Bezzecchi resisted some short-lived pressure from Acosta to claim second place, while Acosta himself celebrated his and KTM's first (legal, given Maverick Vinales's Qatar penalty) grand prix podium of the season.

Bagnaia's race looked particularly bleak at one stage as he was also overtaken by Enea Bastianini, though his former Ducati team-mate then immediately fired off his Tech3 KTM into the airfence.

It restored Bagnaia in fourth place and he came back towards Acosta in the end, but came up short.

Raul Fernandez capped off maybe the best weekend of his MotoGP career with a fifth place, a second ahead of Fabio Quartararo, who struggled off the front row in the initial stages before ending up sixth on the Yamaha.

Reigning champion Jorge Martin scored his first points as an Aprilia rider in seventh, while Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) worked his way up from 15th to eighth - his race apparently including an unseen collision that ruined Miguel Oliveira's day.

Brad Binder was ninth for KTM, with test rider Pol Espargaro close behind in 10th (riding in relief of Tech3's Maverick Vinales). Aldeguer, Binder and Espargaro all overtook Pramac Yamaha's Jack Miller late on.

Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) gambled on the soft rear tyre and wasn't very competitive, finishing two tenths behind Luca Marini in the battle for 12th place (the best Honda).

Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) had another truly woeful race in 16th, 24.7s off the win.

Alex Marquez's crash also involved Joan Mir - Marquez firing off the luckless Mir with a clumsy Turn 12 move and receiving an earful from the Honda rider in the aftermath.

It leaves him 48 points ahead of Bagnaia in the fight for second in the standings.

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