Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Dovizioso wins three-way Czech GP thriller

1412153
1412153
minus
plus

BRNO, Czech Republic: Italian Andrea Dovizioso won a Czech Grand Prix thriller in a Ducati one-two on Sunday while Honda’s Marc Marquez finished third in his 100th MotoGP race to stretch his championship lead to 49 points.


Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo was second, holding off compatriot and future team-mate Marquez to the line.


Four-time MotoGP champion Marquez now has 181 points after 10 races while Italian great Valentino Rossi, who finished fourth for Yamaha after passing Britain’s Cal Crutchlow at the final corner, has 132. Dovizioso moves up to third on 113.


Dovizioso led from pole position in a slow-burning race that turned into a wheel-to-wheel thriller, with riders looking to save tyres early on and wary of the threat of rain before setting caution aside.


The top three were split by just 0.368 of a second at the chequered flag.


“What a weekend. I expected to be fast but not like this,” said Dovizioso after his second victory of the season.


“Pole position and a really perfect race because everybody was struggling with the rear tyre and everybody had to ride very smoothly. I did everything perfectly.


“Jorge was there and Marc was there but I had the feeling they were on the limit like me so my strategy worked,” added the 32-year-old.

Rossi led at the start from second on the grid but Dovizioso was soon back in front and the field ran close together through the early laps with the two Italians trading places without either breaking away.


Spaniard Maverick Vinales, Rossi’s team-mate, retired after a three-rider crash on the opening lap along with Britain’s Bradley Smith and Germany’s Stefan Bradl.


Six riders pulled away slightly and settled into a tight leading group after 10 laps but it was still anyone’s guess who might end up as race winner, with Lorenzo out of the podium places.


“It was a spectacular race, a lot of fighting at the end,” said Lorenzo.


“This time I preferred to be a little bit slower at the beginning, to be in third or fourth position and to save a little bit the tyre and attack at the end. The strategy was OK this time.


“Unfortunately Marc attacked me two laps from the end so this meant that Dovi went away a little bit and I could not make the final attack.”


Marquez said he usually struggled in Brno and his main aim had been to stretch the overall lead and he was happy to have done that.


“Today Ducati had a little bit more,” he said. — Reuters


Czech Grand Prix results


MotoGP


1. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 41min 07.728sec, 2. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Ducati) at 0.178sec, 3. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.368, 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 2.902, 5. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/LCR Honda) 2.958, 6. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati Pramac) 3.768, 7. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha Tech3) 6.159, 8. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 7.479, 9. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Ducati) 7.575, 10. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Suzuki) 8.326


MotoGP standings


1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 181 points, 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 132, 3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 113, 4. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 109, 5. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Ducati) 105, 6. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha Tech3) 97, 7. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati Pramac) 94, 8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/LCR Honda) 90, 9. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Suzuki) 81, 10. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati Pramac) 61


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon