SECOND PLACE FOR MARC IN BRNO

Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa experienced very different races today in the Czech Republic in front of 138,000 fans.

Starting from second on the grid, Marc held his position behind pole man Jorge Lorenzo from the beginning. Dani – who’s qualifying was affected by his injured left ankle – started from 9th but after being pushed around by Hernandez in the first corner he found himself in 12th. He climbed back up to 10th by the end of the first lap, and then by lap four he was already in 8th as Jorge and Marc set an incredible pace and a gap of over two seconds, with Marc setting the race’s fastest lap (1’56.048).

On lap seven Dani caught and passed Smith and was now in sixth, chasing down Dovizioso and Iannone ahead of him, meanwhile Jorge started to push and open up a small gap over him and Marc, which he controlled to the end. By lap sixteen, Dani was on the back of Dovizioso and pushing hard to overtake. He managed to pass briefly on the penultimate lap before being passed back, and then on the final lap Dani made his move stick and crossed the line to take 5th by just 0.075 seconds.

Marc remains third in the Championship Standings on 159 (52 points behind Lorenzo and Rossi on 211) and Dani is seventh on 91 points.