Brno (Czech Republic) (AFP)
Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda), five-time MotoGP world champion and current championship leader, won his sixth victory of the season at the Czech Republic Grand Prix on Sunday at the 10th round of the World Championship in Brno.
Marquez, who started from pole, edged Italy's Andrea Dovizioso and Australia's Jack Miller, both of them on Ducati. He thus became the fourth driver to reach the 50-victor level, after Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Mick Doohan. The day before, the native of Cervera had already matched the record of Doohan, with the 58th pole of his career.
The 26-year-old Catalan dominated the end-to-end race, faithfully imitating the successful performance earlier in the day by younger brother Alex in Moto2. He now has 210 points and is at the top of the standings after 10 of 19 races, with a 63-point lead over Dovizioso and 81 over Italy's Danilo Petrucci (Ducati).
"It was a good race, I managed to ride at my pace," Marquez said.
"I saw that Dovizioso was behind me, I pushed but I almost skidded and I'm very happy to have completed the race, despite a problem with the rear tire," he added. .
French rookie Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha-SRT), the fastest at the end of the 3 free practice sessions but only 10th on the grid, placed 7th, while another French driver, Johann Zarco (KTM), took the 14th place, having created the surprise by achieving the 3rd fastest time in qualifying.
The start of the race was delayed by more than half an hour, due to rain on a portion of the track near the pits and corners, while the rest of the circuit was perfectly dry.
It would have been too risky for the drivers to opt for the slicks, but at the same time not too advantageous to start with rain tires, on a track that was drying little by little.
Faced with this situation, the organizers decided to shorten the race by one lap to 20, also opting for a quick start procedure.
© 2019 AFP