JORGE Lorenzo took his fifth victory of the season at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno with team-mate Valentino Rossi finishing third.
Lorenzo was untouchable during the race and took the win by four and a half seconds from Honda’s Marc Marquez.
The result leaves team-mates Rossi and Lorenzo tied on points at the top of the championship standings.
With the sun and track temperatures hitting 42 °C around the 5.2km Automotodrom Brno, Lorenzo and Marquez immediately opened a gap at the front while Rossi slipped to fifth and was held up by Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Marquez was able to match the pace of Lorenzo, both of whom were lapping almost 0.5s a lap quicker than Rossi. After six laps, the gap was up to four seconds.
Lorenzo began to pull away from Marquez, opening up a 0.5 second gap by lap 9, which increased to two seconds by lap 12.
The double MotoGP World Champion crossed the finish line to take his 38th MotoGP victory by a comfortable margin from Marquez. Rossi eventually crossed the line 10 seconds behind Lorenzo to finish third, continuing his run of podium finishes in every race this season.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone finished in fourth as he was involved in an excellent battle towards the end of the race with his teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.
Pedrosa, who was nursing a bruised left foot after his highside in FP2, gritted his teeth to work his way up through the field from 9th on the grid. With 6 laps remaining, he caught Ducati’s Iannone and Dovizioso who were involved in a scrap for 4th at the time.
After Iannone and Dovizioso almost touched, Iannone made a slight break to take fourth, and left his teammate to deal with Pedrosa.
Pedrosa made a move up the inside of turn 11 on the final lap and held on to cross the line in fifth, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Dovizioso.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley made a great start from fifth on the grid and found himself in third at the first corner. However, Smith’s pace could not match those of Lorenzo and Marquez and therefore started to fall back through the pack to cross the line in 7th. Team-mate Pol Espargaro finished in eighth ahead of his brother Aleix on-board the Ecstar Suzuki.
Race results:
1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 42:53.042
2. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team 42:57.504 (+4.462)
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 43:03.439 (+10.397)
4. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team 43:06.113 (+13.071)
5. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 43:08.692 (+15.650)
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team 43:08.767 (+15.725)
7. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43:14.863 (+21.821)
8. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43:16.282 (+23.240)
9. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 43:36.826 (+43.784)
10. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing 43:38.303 (+45.261)
11. Yonny Hernandez COL Octo Pramac Racing 43:43.015 (+49.973)
12. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 43:43.216 (+50.174)
13. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini 43:47.479 (+54.437)
14. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini 43:47.666 (+54.624)
15. Loris Baz FRA Forward Racing 43:53.358 (+1:00.316)
16. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing 43:54.637 (+1:01.595)
17. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team 43:55.430 (+1:02.388)
18. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing 43:58.986 (+1:05.944)
19. Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda 44:04.449 (+1:11.407)
20. Claudio Corti ITA Forward Racing 44:43.075 (+1:50.033)
21. Karel Abraham CZE AB Motoracing 44:55.697 (+2:02.655)
DNF. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar
DNF. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda
DNF. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team
DNF. Alex De Angelis RSM E-Motion IodaRacing
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