Pedro Acosta was on course for a top result in MotoGP, but his KTM let him down. At the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, the Spaniard was forced to retire in the final lap due to a mechanical problem, while he had been running in fifth place in Brno. His teammate Brad Binder (South Africa) crossed the line in twelfth.
Marc Márquez claimed the victory and ramps up the pressure in the title fight. The world champion from Spain dominated ahead of Ai Ogura (Aprilia/Japan) and Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) – also capitalizing on the absence of championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
The Italian had hit a track marshal following a crash in Saturday’s sprint and was subsequently handed a ban from the Grand Prix. “I want to apologize to the entire MotoGP community for my behavior,” Bezzecchi wrote on Instagram afterwards. He also personally sought out the affected marshal to apologize.
Sprint winner Bagnaia initially led the field and built a small advantage, but Márquez turned up the heat and overtook him a few laps from the end. Shortly afterwards, Bagnaia also had to give way to Ogura. Bezzecchi’s zero-points result shrank his lead in the overall standings: after nine championship rounds, the Aprilia rider now leads his Spanish teammate Jorge Martín, who finished ninth in Brno, by only eight points.
Márquez, who recently secured a double victory in both the sprint and Grand Prix in Hungary, sits just 40 points behind.
