Marquez marches to Brno MotoGP win as rivals look on
Marc Marquez shrugs off a faltering challenge by Andrea Dovizioso and Alex Rins to ease to his sixth MotoGP win of the season in Brno
Czech Republic MotoGP Race Results
MARC MARQUEZ'S quest for a sixth MotoGP World Championship title took another step in the right direction as he delivered another demoralising defeat for Andrea Dovizioso in the Czech Republic MotoGP.
From his sixth pole position of the season, Marquez made it six race wins too with a peerless lights-to-flag success that demonstrated just how in control of the 2019 MotoGP title he is.
Indeed, though Dovizioso and Alex Rins quickly put themselves into good positions to challenge the Repsol Honda rider early on, both were in close contention for the first ten laps without launching any hint of an attack.
Marquez swells his MotoGP lead to 63 points
Then with ten laps to go Marquez upped the pace and swiftly opened up a gap as it quickly became clear Dovizioso didn’t have the speed to match the Repsol Honda rider’s ultimate pace when he pushed on.
Winning by just under three seconds, Marquez swells his lead to 63 points over Dovizioso, who kept it tidy to secure his first podium since Mugello and at least limit the damage to his waning MotoGP title dreams.
Rear tyre trouble saw Rins slip into the clutches of Jack Miller late on and the Australian rider took full advantage for his second podium finish of the season on the Pramac Ducati.
Crutchlow shines as Zarco plummets
Cal Crutchlow showed strong race pace on the LCR Honda to climb from 11th to fifth position, while Valentino Rossi finished as top Yamaha in sixth place on lacklustre day all round for the manufacturer. Fabio Quartararo, Danilo Petrucci, Takaaki Nakagami and Maverick Vinales completed the top ten.
From hero to zero in around 30secs, Johann Zarco’s dreams of a good result from the front row quickly disappeared when a poor start on his damp side of the track (the result of a pre race shower that delayed the start by 40mins) dropping him to 12th before making contact with Franco Morbidelli at Turn 3 that ended the Italian and the innocent Joan Mir’s race.
Zarco eventually finished 14th, though his KTM team-mate Pol Espargaro fared better, crossing the line 11th.
