Marquez wins Czech GP for 50th premier class title
BRNO: Honda’s world champion Marc Marquez won the Czech MotoGP in Brno yesterday after the race had originally been delayed by 45 minutes due to rain to become only the fourth rider to achieve 50 premier class victories.
Marquez, who equalled Australian Mick Doohan’s record of 58 top-class pole positions on Saturday, finished ahead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso of Italy by 2.4sec to extend his advantage at the top of the riders’ standings with his sixth triumph of the season.
Australian Jack Miller of the nonworks Pramac Ducati team pipped Suzuki’s Spanish rider Alex Rins to third spot for his second podium of the campaign in a race cut by one lap due to adverse weather conditions.
The other three riders to achieve at least 50 wins are Valentino Rossi (89), Giacomo Agostini (68) and Doohan (54).
Spaniard Marquez now leads the MotoGP championship with 210 points, 63 ahead of second-placed Dovizioso (147) while Danilo Petrucci, who finished eighth in Brno, is third (129).
Earlier, Alex Marquez made the most of pole position to dominate yesterday’s Moto2 and register his fifth win of the season.
The Kalex rider, brother to MotoGP champion Marc, leads the championship standings on 161 points, 33 clear of his Swiss teammate Thomas Luthi.
In Moto3, Aron Canet won his second race of the season to retake the championship lead. The Spanish KTM rider leads the standings by three points from Honda’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who finished second.
MICK’S BREAKTHROUGH
Mick Schumacher, the 20-year-old son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, yesterday claimed his first Formula Two victory ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The German driver won the 28-lap ‘sprint’ race for Prema Racing after starting from pole position in a reverse grid race. He had finished eighth in Saturday’s full-length feature race.
Schumacher, who is a member of Ferrari’s driver academy, finished 1.5 seconds ahead of Honda-backed Nobuharu Matsushita of Carlin. His previous best result was fourth at the Austrian Grand Prix in June.