2018 Brno MotoGP Results (Czech Grand Prix Recap)

2018 Brno MotoGP Results & Recap

The second half of the 2018 MotoGP Championship began this weekend at Brno with the Czech Republic Grand Prix.

The track celebrated its 49th GP race Sunday, making it the second-oldest circuit that continuously held Grand Prix motorcycle races behind Assen (celebrated its 70th GP last month).

The energy was high for Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez ahead of round nine of 19. The 25-year-old Spaniard had won the last two consecutive races (Sachsenring and Assen), and had also won last year’s Brno race by over 12 seconds ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa.

But from the start of the week, Marquez didn’t look so, well, Marquez. He only topped Free Practice 4 on Saturday, and qualified third behind Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi – a three-time winner at Brno – and poleman Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso.

Regardless, the four-time MotoGP Champion was a clear favorite. He fought to the very end, but couldn’t claim sixth win in 2018 MotoGP. Rather, he had to settle for third.

Taking the victory after some historic battling with Rossi and Ducati Team’s Jorge Lorenzo was Dovizioso, the Italian earning his second win of the season (his first arriving in Qatar).

And we mean earned – when the 21-lap race was complete, Dovizioso took the checkered flag by 0.178 of a second ahead teammate Lorenzo, who joins Repsol Honda in 2019. Marquez finished third, 0.368 of a second back.

“It was an incredible win! Before this weekend I was excited because I felt that we could do well, but I never expected such a spectacular victory,” Andrea Dovizioso says.

“I was very quick right from the first session on Friday, yesterday I did an awesome qualifying, today in the race I had a perfect strategy, and so I’m very pleased with everything.

“I managed the race lap by lap, trying to interpret what was happening around me and see how the other guys were riding: I raced well without ever misusing the rear tire and, even though I was having a bit of difficulty in the final stages, in any case I was able to fight off Jorge and Marc, who today were both really on top form.”

The podium finishers crossed the line over two seconds ahead of the rest of the grid. Rossi had fought hard in the beginning, but lost some steam halfway through.

The nine-time World Champion finished fourth, 2.902 seconds behind Marquez, and a mere 0.056 ahead of LCR Honda Castrol’s Cal Crutchlow, who won at Brno two years ago.

When 2018 Brno MotoGP began, Rossi, who qualified second behind Dovi, grabbed the holeshot. He was followed into turn one by Dovizioso, Marquez and Lorenzo.

Dovi immediately took over the lead in turn two, while behind there was a three-way crash between Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Vinales, Red Bull KTM’s Bradley Smith and HRC Honda Team’s Stefan Bradl. All three riders suffered DNFs.

Rossi and Dovizioso began swapping the lead, as Lorenzo and Marquez battled for third.

By the half-way point, it was a fight between Dovizioso, Marquez, Rossi, Crutchlow, Lorenzo and future Ducati Team pilot Danilo Petrucci on the Alma Pramac Racing Ducati.

As the lap times dropped, Dovizioso, Marquez and Lorenzo opened a gap, leaving Rossi and Crutchlow behind to clash for fourth.

The final laps of the Czech Republic Grand Prix were intense as Dovizioso, Lorenzo and Marquez did all that was possible to claim the win.

But Dovizioso was able to outsmart them all, and take the win ahead of Lorenzo and Marquez, who celebrated his 100th MotoGP race with a podium finish.

Rossi beat Crutchlow four fourth, and they were followed by Petrucci and Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Johann Zarco. Rounding out the top 10 were Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, Angel Nieto Team Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista, and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone.

Marquez continues to lead the championship as he chases his fifth MotoGP title with 181 points, 49 ahead of Rossi. Dovizioso is no third in points, 68 behind Marquez.

The riders will have zero time off as they head to Austria’s Red Bull Ring, which is set to go green next Sunday, August 12. Last year it was also a battle between Dovizioso and Marquez, but Dovizioso would ultimately take the win.

2018 Brno MotoGP Results

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	165.5	41’07.728
2	20	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	165.5	+0.178
3	16	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	165.4	+0.368
4	13	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	165.3	+2.902
5	11	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	165.3	+2.958
6	10	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	165.2	+3.768
7	9	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	165.1	+6.159
8	8	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	165.0	+7.479
9	7	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	165.0	+7.575
10	6	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	164.9	+8.326
11	5	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	164.9	+8.653
12	4	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	164.4	+16.549
13	3	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	164.2	+19.603
14	2	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	164.1	+21.381
15	1	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	163.9	+23.159
16		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	163.6	+27.673
17		30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	163.6	+28.311
18		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	162.8	+41.172
19		50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	162.7	+42.411
20		10	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	162.1	+50.941
Not Classified
		53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	164.2	13 Laps
		45	Scott REDDING	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	162.1	16 Laps
		38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	36.7	20 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha		0 Lap
		6	Stefan BRADL	GER	HRC Honda Team	Honda		0 Lap

 

2018 MotoGP Point Standings (after 9 of 19 rounds)

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	181
2	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	132
3	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	113
4	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	109
5	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati	SPA	105
6	Johann ZARCO	Yamaha	FRA	97
7	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	94
8	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	90
9	Andrea IANNONE	Suzuki	ITA	81
10	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	61
11	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	58
12	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	57
13	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	SPA	51
14	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	32
15	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	30
16	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Yamaha	MAL	24
17	Franco MORBIDELLI	Honda	ITA	22
18	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	17
19	Bradley SMITH	KTM	GBR	13
20	Scott REDDING	Aprilia	GBR	12
21	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	10
22	Mika KALLIO	KTM	FIN	6
23	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	4
24	Thomas LUTHI	Honda	SWI
25	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER
26	Xavier SIMEON	Ducati	BEL
27	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	FRA