Marquez closes in on MotoGP lead with Brno win

Marc Marquez during the Grand Prix of Czechia at Brno.

Marquez beat Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura while Francesco Bagnaia was third on the other factory Ducati.

Ogura led the first lap from pole position and was pressured early by VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio from second place.

However, the satellite Ducati rider faded in the opening laps before recovering to finish fourth.

From third on the grid, Bagnaia dispatched Ogura on Lap 2 and fourth place starter Marquez followed suit, having inherited a place at the start with Bezzecchi absent.

Bagnaia controlled the opening stanza until Lap 15 when Marquez made his move for the lead on the Italian.

Bagnaia was left to battle over second and ultimately lost out to Ogura, who threatened Marquez’s lead in the closing laps.

Ultimately, the Spaniard clinched victory by a slender 0.421s while Bagnaia narrowly held onto third from Di Giannantonio.

“I’m extremely happy with this win,” said Marquez.

“It was somehow an unexpected one, as I was sure that I would struggle towards the end.

“It did happen, actually, but the others were not quicker than me.

“I believe that the bike had something more, but I wasn’t able to make the most of it, especially in the change of direction between Turns 6 and 7, which is normally one of my strong points, but where I was instead losing time.

“I’m taking each Grand Prix as it comes and right now I’m enjoying the moment. We’ll have a test tomorrow and then head straight to Assen.”

Bezzecchi was absent from the Grand Prix of Czechia after he was given a one-race ban for abusing a marshal.

With no points in either Saturday’s Sprint or Sunday’s Grand Prix, Bezzecchi’s lead has been whittled down to just eight points over his Aprilia teammate Jorge Martin.

Martin finished the feature race in ninth after serving a double-long-lap penalty for the pile-up he caused in the preceding Grand Prix of Hungary at Balaton Park.

“It was a difficult weekend – with Jorge’s double long-lap penalty in the main race and Marco’s disastrous Saturday, which even deprived us of the chance to see him race,” said Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola.

“The standings were not our focus before, and they are not our focus now. We must react as a united team and as the strong company that we are, and keep working to improve the bike.

“There’s still a long way to go in the championship, and our rivals have clearly taken a step forward – we must do the same.

“Congratulations to Ai Ogura, who had an extraordinary weekend with a pole position, a new lap record and two podium finishes. This result demonstrates the competitiveness of the RS-GP26.”

There’s no rest for MotoGP with the world championship resuming at Assen for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands on June 26-28.

Results: MotoGP Grand Prix of Czechia, Brno Circuit