MotoGP Czech GP: Bagnaia wins sprint as Bezzecchi crashes out

Francesco Bagnaia took his first MotoGP win of the season by claiming a hard-fought sprint race victory at Brno on Saturday.

The factory Ducati rider got the jump on polesitter Ai Ogura at the start, then spent the rest of the race managing pressure from the Trackhouse man and, close behind him, Marc Marquez.

Marco Bezzecchi came away from another sprint with no points after his fourth Saturday crash of the season, but the Aprilia rider retains the championship lead.

It was a cagey sprint, unusual for the fact that there were different tyre strategies at the front. Notably, the factory Ducatis of Bagnaia and Marquez opted for the soft rear, as opposed to the medium Ogura and most of the other top runners selected.

With baking hot temperatures at Brno, tyre wear for the Ducatis made for an intriguing sub-plot as well as a management challenge for the two red bikes.

In the end, however, the front trio held station to the flag despite ebbs, flows and the ever-present feeling that somebody might make a move or a mistake.

Most of the action in the race came in the form of crashes– there were six of them – rather than overtaking moves. This included Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) sliding out of third place at the end of the first lap.

Diogo Moreira, Team LCR Honda

By lap two, Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) had established himself in fourth place ahead of Bezzecchi, Pedro Acosta (KTM), Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia).

Di Giannantonio had an uneventful ride to fourth at the finish, but Bezzecchi was unable to bring it home behind him, crashing out of fifth on the penultimate lap.

There to pick up the spot was Martin, who was thus able to close the championship gap on his colleague to 15 points. Martin had passed Fernandez early, then battled with Acosta before the KTM man fell on lap six.

This meant Fernandez could claim sixth after having wondered out loud whether he could finish the sprint at all following his appendicitis earlier in the week.

Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM), Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and 2020 Czech GP winner Brad Binder took the last three points-paying positions.

MotoGP Czech Grand Prix - Sprint results

SPRINT

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	10	18'55.527		171.2		12
2	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	10	+0.241 18'55.768	0.241	171.2		9
3	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	10	+0.794 18'56.321	0.553	171.1		7
4	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	10	+2.905 18'58.432	2.111	170.8		6
5	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	10	+6.404 19'01.931	3.499	170.3		5
6	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	10	+7.440 19'02.967	1.036	170.1		4
7	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	10	+8.110 19'03.637	0.670	170.0		3
8	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54		Ducati	10	+10.195 19'05.722	2.085	169.7		2
9	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	10	+10.984 19'06.511	0.789	169.6		1
10	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	10	+11.103 19'06.630	0.119	169.6
11	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7		Yamaha	10	+13.497 19'09.024	2.394	169.2
12	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	10	+14.942 19'10.469	1.445	169.0
13	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	10	+15.038 19'10.565	0.096	169.0
14	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	10	+15.535 19'11.062	0.497	168.9
15	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	10	+16.151 19'11.678	0.616	168.8
dnf	C. Crutchlow Team LCR	35		Honda	9	+1 Lap 17'22.337	1 Lap	167.9	Accident
dnf	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	8	+2 Laps 15'12.985	1 Lap	170.4	Accident
dnf	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	6	+4 Laps 11'31.210	2 Laps	168.8	Accident
dnf	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	5	+5 Laps 9'33.180	1 Lap	169.6	Accident
dnf	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	0	+10 Laps 1'28.673	5 Laps		Accident
dnf	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	0	+10 Laps 1'30.230	1.557		Accident
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