MotoGP: Marquez wins, Miller podium

It was another sumptuous Sunday ride for Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) as he took victory in a start-delayed MotoGP race at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 4, with the reigning world champion joined on the podium by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) and Aussie Jack Miller (Pramac Racing Ducati).

With a final advantage of just over two seconds, it was Marquez’ sixth victory in 2019 – and in the process he also became just the fourth rider in GP history to take 50 wins in the premier class. Marquez also equaled Mike Hailwood’s 76 wins across all classes.

Fourth on the all-time winners’ list, Marquez heads to round 11 in Austria with 210pts – 63 clear of second-placed Dovizioso.

“I was concentrating really hard from the beginning as there were still some wet patches, especially at turn one, said Marquez.

“I knew I needed to keep my rhythm as the Yamaha riders were starting from behind and they were strong in warm-up. Then I saw that Dovi was behind me so I had to keep pushing and pushing.

“I had a little warning on lap 10 because that is when I started to push more to try and open the gap. Delaying the race was the best decision that could have been made because the track was in a mixed condition and it could have been quite dangerous.

“A crazy weekend with the weather but the whole Repsol Honda Team were perfect and helped me a lot to achieve victory!”

A heavy downpour after the Moto2 race put a massive spanner in the works for the MotoGP riders ahead of the race start. The start/finish straight through to turn four were completely wet when the riders went out for their sighting laps. They all went out on the wet tyres, with Race Direction declaring it a wet race. But, with the pitlane remaining open, a lot of the riders came back in and went back out on slick tyres – what would the correct decision be?

A couple of menacing dark clouds were on the horizon as tensions built for the start of the race. However, with riders voicing their concerns, the start was delayed due to track conditions with Michelin confirming every rider had opted for the slick tyres.

The riders and teams left the grid to get ready for a Quick Start Procedure, meaning pitlane will be open for just 60 seconds. In addition, a new race distance of 20 laps was confirmed – but questions were still being asked of the weather, with more rain expected. The safety cars were out testing conditions and at 14:20 local time (GMT+2), it was confirmed the pitlane would open at 14:35 for a 14:40 race start, with a 20-lap race now confirmed.

Once the race had fired into life, polesitter Marquez got the launch he was looking for, while Miller got his GP19 spinning but didn’t lose too much time, with Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) getting a sluggish start from third with that side of the circuit still damp from the earlier rain.

FULL BRNO RESULTS HERE

Dovizioso managed to slot in behind Marquez into turn one after his great start as the MotoGP field safely negotiated the opening corner. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar) didn’t safely negotiate the exit of turn four though after Morbidelli and Zarco made contact, with the Italian collecting the helpless Mir on the way into the gravel.

Soon enough the top four were breaking clear from the rest. Marquez, Dovizioso, Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) and Miller had created a gap over just over a second back to Pol Espargaro (Red Bull Factory Racing), who had Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) close for company.

As the laps ticked by the leading quartet were line astern as 0.8 seconds covered them and, with limited dry track time throughout the weekend, the riders were wary of not jumping the gun too early. Meanwhile, Rossi eventually got the better of Espargaro’s KTM, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) quickly dispatching the latter to tuck in behind ‘The Doctor’. But by this time, the gap to the leaders was over four seconds.

Would Marquez turn the wick up? The signs were there. With 10 to go, fourth place Miller had dropped to 1.5 seconds back of the race leader, with Marquez’ lead over second-place Dovi creeping up over the half-second mark.

Then, with nine to go, Marquez was making his move. The gap increased to nearly a second but at turn 10, Marquez had a front-end scare. However, this didn’t seem to faze the seven-time champion as from then on in, Dovi couldn’t keep the Honda man’s pace. It quickly became a race for second and third between Dovi, Rins and Miller and with five laps remaining, would there be a late twist in the tale for second? Rins closed Dovi down slightly – but soon it was the Suzuki that was under attack.

Rins dropped to over a second behind Dovi and Miller smelt blood. The Australian hooked his sights onto the back of Rins’ GSX-RR and with two laps left, Miller went for it at turn one – but the blue machine fought back up the inside. No matter, Miller got the job done a few seconds later at turn five and with Rins clearly struggling with his tyres, the Spaniard gave up the ghost.

Up the road, Marquez was out of sight as he took victory number six of the year, Dovizioso returned to the podium for the first time since Mugello, and Miller made it two rostrums in 2019 with a well-earned third.

Related:
Jack Miller interview

“I am very satisfied with this result and I thank the team because this weekend we have done an extraordinary job,” said Miller.

“When Rins overtook me I stayed calm and this allowed me to manage the tyre and then attack him in the final.

“The delayed start? Turn one would have been very dangerous. It was the right decision and it’s nice to see how much Dorna cares about our safety.”

Rins had to concede a podium finish to cross the line fourth and on another day, Crutchlow could well have been in the podium hunt – the British rider finished 1.2 off Rins in fifth.

Rossi took a lonely sixth place to claim his best result since Le Mans as he finished three seconds ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT). Danilo Petrucci’s run of top six finishes on the factory Ducati came to an end with an eighth, ahead of Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu).

After a bad start, Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) recovered from 15th to 10th on a disappointing day for one of the early weekend contenders.