Marc Marquez became the first Ducati rider to win five consecutive Grands Prix when he won the Czech Republic Grand Prix, the MotoGP world championship leader extending his advantage to 120 points after a dominant display at Brno on Sunday.
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Marquez won five races in succession since the most recent of his six premier-class world titles in 2019 with Honda, the Spaniard receiving an extra boost when nearest title rival and younger brother Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) crashed out two laps into the 21-lap race.
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi finished second for his third Grand Prix podium of the season, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who finished second in Saturday’s 10-lap sprint race, held off Marquez’s factory Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia for third place, his first podium finish of the year.
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“It has been a super first part of the season,” Marquez, who started from second on the grid, said.
“Especially these last races, we did a step from the Aragon test, we did a step on the bike. I feel better and better, and I am riding super good. Now it’s the summer break but still 10 races to go … time to relax, but in Austria keep the same mentality with the same intensity.”
Marquez has now won the sprint race and Grand Prix proper at the past five rounds in Aragon, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic to take an iron grip on this year’s title chase.
PIT TALK PODCAST: Marquez’s Germany masterclass amid MotoGP mayhem! Listen to Pit Talk below.
From pole position, Bagnaia held firm on the opening lap as Marc Marquez briefly dropped to third place, but Bezzecchi barged through to lead the race at the start of lap two as the Italian and Marquez burst away.
Further back, Alex Marquez slid off at turn 12 and skittled Joan Mir, the furious Honda rider remonstrating with the younger Marquez afterwards.
Marquez overtook Bezzecchi for the lead at turn three on lap eight and immediately built a gap of 0.2 seconds, and extended his advantage to over one second three laps later, his lead peaking at nearly three seconds with five laps remaining before easing up to take victory by 1.753secs, his eighth Grand Prix win from 12 starts this season.
Aprilia’s reigning world champion Jorge Martin finished seventh in his first race for over three months after multiple injuries and a lengthy contract dispute with his new team, while Australia’s Jack Miller was classified in 10th place after spending the majority of the race behind Martin in eighth, the Yamaha rider ceding places to Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer and KTM pair Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro in the final four laps.
Aldeguer dropped to 11th when he was given a three-second post-race penalty for failing to serve a long-lap penalty for contact with Miller’s teammate Miguel Oliveira earlier in the race, promoting Miller into the top 10.
Round 13 of the 22-round MotoGP season will take place in Spielberg in Austria from August 15-17.