Marc Marquez continued his domination of MotoGP sprint races in 2025 at the Czech Republic Grand Prix, Ducati’s world championship leader overcoming a post-race tyre pressure investigation to win for the 11th time in 12 sprints this season at Brno on Saturday.
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Marquez extended his series lead to 95 points over younger brother Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) after passing pole-sitter and teammate Francesco Bagnaia for the lead on the first lap, extending his advantage to three seconds on lap six of the 10-lap sprint before slowing and dropping behind Pedro Acosta (KTM), fearful of his front tyre pressure dropping too low and falling foul of MotoGP’s minimum tyre pressure regulations.
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Marquez then sat behind Acosta and overtook his Spanish compatriot for the lead halfway through the penultimate lap, extending that advantage to 0.798 seconds on the final lap to win his fifth consecutive sprint.
Marquez – along with Aprilia rider Ai Ogura (16th) and Yamaha’s Alex Rins (18th) – was investigated after the race for potential tyre pressure breaches, but all three riders were cleared, meaning Marquez avoided an eight-second time penalty that would have dropped him to 14th place.
PIT TALK PODCAST: Marquez’s Germany masterclass amid MotoGP mayhem! Listen to Pit Talk below.
“For that reason I am smiling,” Marquez said when asked if he had managed to stay inside the tyre pressure parameters to retain his victory.
“It’s true that it was super on the limit. We were riding comfortably, and then I saw that the tyre pressure was not enough. I tried to push some laps on the brakes but it was too much risk to get that correct pressure, and then I decide to wait, be super close to Acosta to increase the temperature. When I saw the pressure was inside the rules, then I pushed the last two laps.”
Acosta secured his first sprint podium of the year with second place, with fellow KTM rider Enea Bastianini – who missed last weekend’s German Grand Prix after a bout of food poisoning saw him hospitalised and lose three kilograms – taking his first podium since crossing from Ducati in the off-season with third.
Bagnaia – who, like Marquez, was fearful of a tyre pressure penalty and slowed down to drop three places on lap five – faded to seventh place after securing his first pole position of the season earlier on Saturday, while Alex Marquez had a dreadful start from a season-worst eighth on the grid and dropped all the way to the back of the field before recovering to 17th, his first sprint race without points this season.
Reigning world champion Jorge Martin (Aprilia) returned from a three-month injury layoff and a contract dispute with Aprilia to finish six seconds adrift of Marc Marquez and out of the points in 11th, one place ahead of Australia’s Jack Miller (Yamaha), who was 12th and 6.379secs from victory after starting from 10th on the grid following a late crash in qualifying.
The 21-lap Czech Republic Grand Prix, round 12 of the 22-round MotoGP season, will take place at 11pm on Sunday (AEST).