Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team claimed their eleventh Saturday win of the season in the 10-lap Sprint at the Automotodrom Brno in Czechia. Francesco Bagnaia crossed the line in seventh place.
Márquez had a strong start from second on the grid and moved into the lead within the opening corners. On lap five, he let Acosta through due to a critical front-tyre pressure reading. With two laps to go, Marc retook the lead and secured the Sprint win.
Bagnaia, who started from pole, also had an excellent start but had to let several riders through in the middle part of the race due to a tyre pressure warning, which was later found to be unfounded. Pecco eventually finished seventh.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will return to action tomorrow morning at 9:40 local time (GMT +2) for the warm-up, followed by the twelfth race of the season at 14:00, contested over a 21-lap distance.
Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“The fact that we weren’t able to ride in the dry yesterday, combined with the new asphalt, led to unusual tyre behaviour and made things trickier for the engineers. Our front tyre pressure was slightly low, which is why I let Acosta through and stayed close to him to raise the tyre temperature and, as a result, the pressure. I knew I had the pace to stick with him, and during the penultimate lap I saw that the pressure was within a safe range again, so I started pushing.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 7th
“I felt comfortable in the race and was riding well. I was losing a little ground to Marc, but I had a gap over the riders behind, and I think I could have managed the situation. Already on the grid we had a small electronics glitch, and during the race I received messages instructing me to perform a specific action. In the end, the front-tyre pressure was actually correct, so I shouldn’t have let the others through. The team is analysing the data to understand what really happened. It’s a pity, because we were doing well and my riding was much more effective today, especially under braking.”
