Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

MotoGP Brno: Dovizioso edges win fight over Lorenzo and Marquez

Andrea Dovizioso scored his first MotoGP victory in five months by coming out on top in a three-way fight against Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez in the Czech Grand Prix

Ducati rider Dovizioso expertly fended off attacks from both Marquez and Lorenzo in the closing stages of a tense affair at Brno, which only came alive in the closing stages.

The Italian led the bulk of the 21-lap event, where the top runners were forced to focus on preserving their tyres for much of the race.

Valentino Rossi made a strong start from second on the grid to lead the pack into Turn 1, but Dovizioso passed the Yamaha rider later around the opening tour to take a lead he would hold until the eighth lap.

As a large group of riders formed up behind the leaders, Rossi took the chance to retake the lead at the downhill Turn 5 right-hander, but he could only hold it for three laps before again succumbing to Dovizioso, this time at Turn 1.

Two corners later, Marquez followed suit to go past Rossi and seize second, and on the following lap LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow did likewise to take third place.

Lorenzo then began a late spurt by passing Rossi on lap 13, and three laps later the Spaniard cleared Crutchlow and went on the attack against Marquez and Dovizioso.

On lap 18, Lorenzo found his way past Marquez with a bold move at the uphill Turn 13 left-hander and immediately made an audacious attempt to pass Ducati team-mate Dovizioso for the lead into Turn 14.

But Dovizioso held firm, and a subsequent failed bid for the lead by Lorenzo at Turns 3 and 4 gave Dovizioso the breathing space he needed to take his first win since the season-opening Qatar race.

Lorenzo and Marquez traded second place on the final lap, with the former getting the upper hand but falling 0.178s short of victory at the chequered flag.

Two seconds further back, Rossi had got back ahead of Crutchlow to take fourth on the last lap, while Danilo Petrucci completed the top six on the best of the Pramac Ducatis and was less than a second further back.

Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha), Honda's Dani Pedrosa, Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati) and Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone completed the top 10, with Bautista holding the fastest lap until it was beaten by Lorenzo on the final tour.

Alex Rins slumped to 11th place on the second Suzuki after running eighth earlier in the race.

Completing the points scorers some way further back were Jack Miller (Pramac), Marc VDS Honda's Franco Morbidelli, Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3) and Aleix Espargaro on the best of the Aprilias.

Maverick Vinales' miserable weekend came to an abrupt end on the first lap as he was involved in a three-way crash with Stefan Bradl and Bradley Smith.

Scott Redding also crashed out on the second Aprilia, while Tito Rabat's Avintia Ducati suffered a suspected mechanical failure.

Results - 21 laps

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap
1 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 41m07.728s
2 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 0.178s
3 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 0.368s
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 2.902s
5 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 2.958s
6 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 3.768s
7 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 6.159s
8 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 7.479s
9 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 7.575s
10 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 8.326s
11 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 8.653s
12 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 16.549s
13 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 19.603s
14 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 21.381s
15 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 23.159s
16 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 27.673s
17 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 28.311s
18 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 41.172s
19 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki Suzuki 42.411s
20 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 50.941s
- Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati Retirement
- Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia Retirement
- Bradley Smith KTM KTM Crash
- Stefan Bradl Honda Honda Crash
- Pol Espargaro KTM KTM Withdrawn
- Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha Crash

Riders' championship

Pos Rider Points
1 Marc Marquez 181
2 Valentino Rossi 132
3 Andrea Dovizioso 113
4 Maverick Vinales 109
5 Jorge Lorenzo 105
6 Johann Zarco 97
7 Danilo Petrucci 94
8 Cal Crutchlow 90
9 Andrea Iannone 81
10 Jack Miller 61
11 Alex Rins 58
12 Dani Pedrosa 57
13 Alvaro Bautista 51
14 Pol Espargaro 32
15 Tito Rabat 30
16 Hafizh Syahrin 24
17 Franco Morbidelli 22
18 Aleix Espargaro 17
19 Bradley Smith 13
20 Scott Redding 12
21 Takaaki Nakagami 10
22 Mika Kallio 6
23 Karel Abraham 4
24 Thomas Luthi 0
25 Stefan Bradl 0
26 Xavier Simeon 0
27 Sylvain Guintoli 0

Constructors' championship

Pos Constructor Points
1 Honda 216
2 Ducati 183
3 Yamaha 173
4 Suzuki 110
5 KTM 39
6 Aprilia 27


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article MotoGP Brno: Espargaro breaks collarbone in warm-up, out of race
Next article MotoGP Brno: late-attack strategy 'very new' for Ducati's Lorenzo

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe