MotoGP preview: Brno

Where?
Brno, Czech Republic

When?
August 15 – 17

Track records
MotoGP:
1:56.135 = 167.4km/h, Marc Marquez (Honda) 2013
Moto2:
2:02.605 = 158.6km/h, Johann Zarco (Suter) 2013
Moto3:
2:08.307 = 151.5 km/h, Luis Salom (KTM) 2013

Brno podiums in 2013
MotoGP:
Marquez (Honda) • Pedrosa (Honda) • Lorenzo (Yamaha)

Moto2:
Kallio (Kalex) • Nakagami (Kalex) • Lüthi (Suter)

Moto3:
Salom (KTM) • M. Viñales (KTM) • Folger (Kalex KTM)

Talking of the Czech Republic…
“I think Brno could be good for us like in Mugello or Montmeló. It will be difficult because Marc is pretty constant in all the tracks. We have improved a lot from Barcelona and we found some little things that permit us to be more constant and competitive as well. Physically I feel already in a good shape and I can keep a good pace during the race. Maybe in Brno with this bike we can fight for the win but to be more competitive in all the tracks we need more efforts to get some more tenths.”
- Yamaha’s back-to-form 2010 Brno winner Jorge Lorenzo

Talking points
And then there were 10… Marc Marquez comes to Brno on a 10-race winning streak, and as the man who won here in MotoGP in his debut season last year. The last man to win 11 straight in the top flight was Giacomo Agostini in 1968-69; Mike Hailwood strung together 12 in a row across the 1963-64 seasons.

There will be a ‘new’ face on the MotoGP grid as an older one has decided it’s time – almost – to hang up the racing boots. For 40-year-old Colin Edwards, Indianapolis brought his final Grand Prix appearance in earnest. While the Texas Tornado will remain an integral part of NGM Forward Racing set-up and may even make the odd wild card appearance, his place from Brno onwards goes to Alex de Angelis.

Colin competed in 196 MotoGP events with 12 podiums, the first and last in Great Britain; in 2004 he came second on a Honda at Donington Park, in 2011 he was third at Silverstone on a Yamaha. Team owner Giovanni Cuzari called the American “an amazing rider and a great man”.

De Angelis, now 30, is returning to the team he rode for last year – in Moto2 on a Speed Up, finishing 14th overall. He also won for them at Sepang in 2012. His long career (Indianapolis was his 240th race start) has embraced 125cc, 250cc, Moto2 and MotoGP, where he has 39 race starts to his credit already. His only podium in the senior class came at Indianapolis, coincidentally, in 2009 on a Honda. He has one 250cc GP win and three Moto2 wins on his record, two of the latter at Phillip Island in 2010 and 2011 (Motobi both times).

Last weekend’s Brickyard Moto2 winner was also the Brno Moto2 winner last season. Mika Kallio scored his first win in the revised intermediate class in the Czech Republic last season and is now in one of the richest veins of form in his career, just seven points adrift of Marc VDS Racing colleague Tito Rabat. The Spanish rider hasn’t been up to the podium in the last three races while Kallio has put together three in a row.

In Moto3, of course, Jack Miller has eight rounds left in which to defend his lead, currently 21 points over Indy winner Efren Vazquez. Last year at Brno the Townsville rider qualified fourth and finished seventh, but he will be looking for a great deal more in 2014. "I can’t wait to get to the Czech Republic, where last year I got a very good result,” says Miller. “I think the characteristics of the Brno track will suit our bike very well. If we push hard from the start I hope we can have a better result than in Indianapolis, because the finish line is a bit closer to the final corner and so slipstreaming is not as crucial.”

Vazquez, by the way, was 27 years and 342 days old when he won in Indy – the oldest first-time winner in the lightweight class since Italian Andrea Ballerini won at Phillip Island on a Honda in 2003 at the ripe old age of 30!

Keeping track
Among the heavyweights of the sport, Indianapolis podium finisher Valentino Rossi won at Brno for Yamaha in 2008-2009, followed by Jorge Lorenzo in 2010. Honda has held sway since then thanks to Casey Stoner (2011), Dani Pedrosa (2012) and Marquez. Rossi, incidentally, will start for the 245th time in the premier class on Sunday – equaling the all-time record of Alex Barros.

In the middleweight class the last five seasons have brought Brno victories for five different riders. The late Marco Simoncelli won on a Gilera in 2009, the Moriwaki of Toni Elias came out on top in 2010, Andrea Iannone and Marc Marquez won on Suter machines in 2011 and 2012 and last year the race went to Kallio’s KTM.

In the lightweight category Nico Terol won at Brno for Aprilia in 2009-10, then Sandro Cortese stepped up, also on one of the Italian bikes, the following year. Jonas Folger won on a Kalex KTM in 2012 while last year Luis Salom, now in Moto2, did the business on the Red Bull Ajo KTM.