MotoGP returns to Europe for the middle race in a gruelling set of three in a row, with Repsol Honda RC213V riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa heading the championship charts after a fine one-two finish last weekend at Indianapolis.
It was the third win in a row for 20-year-old class rookie Marc Marquez, who had already broken a series of “youngest-ever” records in a glittering start to his career in the premier class. Second was the reward for a conspicuously brave ride by Pedrosa, who is coming back from injury after losing the title lead to his younger team-mate when he missed German GP before the summer holiday.
The Czech race is number two in a punishing one-two-three schedule that restarts the World Championship series after a three-weekend break. It brings the three-class grand prix circus back across the Atlantic to the eastern edge of Europe, with only four days in which to draw breath.
Immediately after this race, another journey – across the English Channel for the British GP at Silverstone.
The tough schedule plays into the hands of Marquez, the only one of the three main title rivals to be fully fit. Pedrosa and third-overall Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) are both recovering from fractures.
The championship leader arrives at Brno with an advantage of 21 points over his team-mate Pedrosa and 35 points over defending champion Lorenzo. Marquez is flying high after a headline-making debut season. What was expected to be a learning year has instead turned into a strong challenge to become the first maiden-season champion since Kenny Roberts in 1978.
The results tell the story. As well as being the only rider to claim four wins, he has been on the podium at every other race bar one … he crashed out of the Italian GP while lying second. Marquez also has a strong record at the Czech circuit, taking victory last year in the Moto2 class, on his way to collecting the title in 2012.
Pedrosa broke his collarbone on the eve of the German GP, missing that race but returning the next weekend for a heroic fifth at Laguna Seca before the summer break. He chose natural healing rather than surgery, and following medical advice the best treatment was rest. The healing has progressed, but at the cost of some of the 27-year-old’s fitness level. He was stiff and still below top form at Indianapolis, but bravely fought for a valuable second place.
Lorenzo suffered a similar fracture twice-over and missed the same German race, although surgical repair has brought him back closer to full strength. He was third behind Pedrosa at Indianapolis.
The run of GPs between now and the end of the season promises much for Pedrosa as he regains strength. The experienced Honda rider won six out of the last eight races last year, in a purple patch he will be aiming to repeat. He has already scored two wins and four second places this season.
Brno brought him one of the finest of those wins, after an audacious last-corner attack on Lorenzo secured victory by less than two tenths of a second.
German LCR Honda RC213V rider Stefan Bradl lies sixth overall, after a relatively downbeat seventh at Indianapolis, where a pair of crashes cost him confidence, a set-back after pole position and a first MotoGP-class rostrum at the previous round in California. Bradl is anxious to regain momentum at Brno, where he won his first grand prix in 2008, in the 125cc class. He claimed another rostrum in 2011, going on to win the Moto2 World Championship.
Spanish racer Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) by contrast continued a run of strong form at Indianapolis, and added a sixth top-six finish, after claiming his first rostrum of the year at Laguna Seca. He lies eighth overall, steadily closing on seventh as he regains momentum following a costly couple of first-lap crashes earlier in the year. The former 125cc champion, a Brno winner in that class, has an extra role: race-developing Showa suspension and Nissin brakes, the only MotoGP rider to use the Japanese components.
Team-mate Bryan Staring (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) is a grand prix rookie, but this time at least has the advantage of prior circuit knowledge. The Australian races in the CRT category on a CBR1000RR-powered prototype, and the task of adapting to the machine is complicated by also having to learn new tracks. Staring gained his first points at round six in Catalunya.
Brno, the Czech Republic’s second largest city, has hosted motor sport at the Masaryk circuit since the 1930s, while a shorter 8.66-mile public-roads track was used for the motorcycle GPs from the mid-1960s until 1982. The current 3.357-mile circuit, first used in 1987, was constructed while Czechoslovakia was still behind the Iron Curtain. Vast crowds visit the race, enjoying natural grandstands in the hillsides, affording fine views of the fast and sweeping corners.
Honda’s Wayne Gardner won the first GP there in 1987, and again the following year, kick-starting a new history in which Honda has taken more wins than any rivals, claiming 12 in 25 years.
Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez says:
“After a great weekend in Indianapolis, there is no rest and we go directly to the Czech Republic. Brno isn’t one of my favourite tracks but I won there last year so I still have a good feeling there! We will see when we get there. Historically Yamaha have been very strong so I’m sure they will be very fast again this year, also considering they tested there a few weeks ago. We will wait to see our level and take the weekend at our own pace, work hard and try to take some more championship points.”
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says:
“Indianapolis was physically a very tough race for me, so it’s important I can recover in time for Brno just a few days from now. Let’s hope the weather stays nice as it can be very unpredictable in that area. Brno is a fast track, with high speed corners and in the past the Honda has performed well there. Last year we had a strong race, and I hope we can repeat the same this year.”
GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista says:
“We go to Brno this week feeling happy after the great job we did at Indianapolis, when we fought for fourth position despite struggling for rear grip at the start of the race. It was a really positive weekend and now we’re confident we can do another good job. We had a few problems last year but we’ve made notable progress since then so I think that we can be competitive again in the Czech Republic. We are working in a really good way at the moment and everything is coming more easily. Brno is more suited to the Yamaha because of the wide, fast corners and changes in direction and elevation but this year our bike has improved so much, and I think we can keep this run of good results going.”
LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl says:
“I left Indianapolis a bit disappointed because I was consistently fast throughout the free sessions but I crashed twice on Saturday and lacked some confidence during the race. After the great second place in Laguna Seca I was expecting a bit more than seventh. Anyway I have shown my pace and it’s nice to be back in Europe. Brno is a nice track for me because I won my first race in 2008, so it is always a special feeling. I think it’s a good circuit, the layout is interesting and I enjoy riding there.”
GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Bryan Staring says:
“Unfortunately at Indianapolis all the positive things we did in practice came to nothing in the race. I didn’t have the same confidence with the bike and it was disappointing. Now we go to Brno, finally a circuit that I already know, and we have an opportunity to put that disappointment behind us. I like the circuit, so hopefully that means we can get started on the bike set-up from the first session.”
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