MotoGP Brno: Marquez beats Ogura and rattles Aprilia; the championship is wide open

Bezzecchi wasn’t there, suspended after unsporting behavior in the sprint, and Marquez took full advantage: he kept Ogura behind and bagged 25 crucial points.

After Saturday’s sprint race that saw Pecco Bagnaia return to victory in a sprint 238 days after the last time, this afternoon the Brno circuit hosted the full-distance race of the Czech Republic Grand Prix. 21 laps to cover in very high temperatures, making optimal tire management essential. The absence on the grid of Marco Bezzecchi, leader of the MotoGP overall standings, represented a golden opportunity for his rivals in the title fight.

The best of all was Marc Marquez, who held off the lightning-fast Ai Ogura on the SuperFile Trackhouse Aprilia. Now MM93 is 40 points behind Bezzecchi. The podium was completed by the other red Ducati ridden by Pecco Bagnaia, who faded at the end but managed to keep the VR46 Desmosedici of Fabio Di Giannantonio at bay. The top 5 was rounded out by a finally incisive Joan Mir on the Honda. Jorge Martin, with two long lap penalties to serve, went no further than ninth at the flag. Ahead of him were also Fermin Aldeguer, Raul Fernandez, and Luca Marini. The top 10 was closed out by Enea Bastianini on the KTM, while Pedro Acosta’s bike suffered a technical problem that forced the Spaniard to retire.

LAP 21 - Marquez keeps Ogura at a safe distance. Acosta retires due to a technical issue on his KTM. Diggia is within half a second of Bagnaia, who’s clearly struggling.

LAP 20 - Fastest lap for Di Giannantonio, who has closed to 1.1s from Bagnaia. Ogura is 0.5–0.6s from Marquez, who doesn’t want to leave himself open to an attack from the Japanese rider.

LAP 19 - Ai is giving it everything; 0.6–0.7s separate him from the race leader. Meanwhile, Acosta has re-passed Mir and is fifth. Martin is tenth after overtaking Moreira.

LAP 18 - Ogura tries to claw back time on the number 93 Desmosedici; the gap is 0.7–0.8s.

LAP 17 - Marquez hits the turbo, putting six tenths between himself and Bagnaia, who has Ogura glued to him. The Japanese rider passes the Ducati man and takes P2. There are nine tenths between him and Marc. Pecco is fading in this finale.

LAP 16 - MARQUEZ OVERTAKES BAGNAIA. Acosta in trouble, down to sixth behind Mir and shadowed by Aldeguer. Martin is eleventh, behind Martin and ahead of Bastianini.

LAP 15 - MARQUEZ SETS A NEW RECORD, HE’S ALL OVER BAGNAIA. Ogura is seven tenths from the reigning world champion.

LAP 14 - OGURA SETS THE FASTEST LAP: NEW RECORD AT BRNO. Marc closes back to three tenths from Pecco.

LAP 13 - Bagnaia has restored half a second between himself and his teammate. Di Giannantonio passes Acosta to take fourth. The KTM rider let the VR46 colleague through at Turn 7: could his front tire pressure be too low?

LAP 12 - The two Ducati riders clocked the same time on the previous lap; Ogura is 0.7–0.8s behind the red duo: watch out for his prowess in the second half of the race.

LAP 11 - Marquez glued to Bagnaia, he seems to have more pace and is studying where to overtake the number 63 Ducati.

LAP 10 - Marquez has closed in on Bagnaia. It’s a key phase of the race for tire management as well, with lap times rising. Acosta and Diggia have dropped off Ogura, who is 0.8–0.9s from Marc.

LAP 8 -MARQUEZ BANGS IN A RECORD LAP, he’s five tenths from Pecco and has around seven in hand over Ogura, still followed by Acosta and Di Giannantonio. Also in the top 10 are Mir, Aldeguer, Moreira, Fernandez, and Marini.

LAP 7 - Best lap for Bagnaia, who after Saturday’s triumph wants to impose himself today as well. We’re a third into the race; remember tire management is vital. Martin is thirteenth, between Bastianini and Binder.

LAP 6 - Pecco continues to lead the MotoGP race at Brno with 0.5–0.6s over Marc. Ogura keeps Acosta behind, who set the fastest lap. MARTIN SERVES THE SECOND LONG LAP and once again runs onto the green.

LAP 5 -MARTIN HAS SERVED THE FIRST LONG LAP, but he goes onto the green, so it’s counted as a track limits infringement. He’s tenth ahead of Morbidelli, Marini, and Bastianini. Meanwhile, Mir has passed Moreira and is sixth.

LAP 4 - Bagnaia still leads, about half a second ahead of Marquez. Ogura has dropped back a bit and is being hounded by the Acosta–Di Giannantonio duo.

LAP 3 - Martin is notified he can start serving the double long lap penalty. Diggia passes Moreira and moves up to fifth. Also in the top 10 are Mir, Martin, Aldeguer, and Fernandez.

LAP 2 - Pecco pressures Ai, who tries to counter every overtaking attempt from the Ducati man, but then the Italian slips past the Japanese rider, soon imitated by Marquez. Quartararo crashes at Turn 8.

LAP 1 - Ogura keeps the lead, followed by Bagnaia and Marquez. Then come Moreira, Acosta, and Di Giannantonio.

2:00 PM - Warm Up Lap underway

1:50 PM - It seems Joan Mir is the only rider running the soft rear tire, while everyone else will use the medium. Medium on the front for all.

1:40 PM - The riders are lined up on the grid with their respective bikes.

At 2:00 PM the race will start, and Corsedimoto will provide live text coverage with all updates. In 2025 Marc Marquez triumphed, taking both the sprint race and the long race. Brno is also the track of Valentino Rossi’s first win in the World Championship: it was 1996 and the rider from Pesaro won the 125 race after a duel with Jorge "Aspar" Martinez. The nine-time world champion is present this weekend to follow his VR46 team and the other Academy riders.

1. Ai Ogura
2. Fabio Di Giannantonio
3. Pecco Bagnaia

4. Marc Marquez
5. Diogo Moreira
6. Raul Fernandez

7. Pedro Acosta
8. Franco Morbidelli
9. Jorge Martin (2 LONG LAPS TO SERVE)

10. Fermin Aldeguer
11. Joan Mir
12. Maverick Vinales

13. Fabio Quartararo
14. Luca Marini
15. Enea Bastianini

16. Jack Miller
17. Alex Rins
18. Brad Binder

19. Cal Crutchlow
20. Toprak Razgatlioglu

On the MotoGP starting grid there are no Alex Marquez or Marco Bezzecchi. The 2025 vice–world champion raised the white flag after Qualifying for physical reasons. As he is returning from the serious injury suffered in the crash during the Barcelona race, he decided together with the doctors and the BK8 Gresini team to end the weekend early. A wise choice: it was important for him to test his condition and regain confidence with the bike. Next weekend will be the GP at Assen, so it’s better to rest and be ready for the appointment.

Bezzecchi’s case is different: he was suspended for having pushed and hit a marshal after crashing on the penultimate lap of the sprint race. The sanction from the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel was also upheld by the FIM Appeal Panel, to which Aprilia had appealed by exercising its right. Appeal rejected, the Noale team had to accept the measure, while emphasizing how wrong and unjustifiable the behavior of the rider from Romagna was.

Jorge Martin will have to serve two long lap penalties in the race in the Czech Republic. As MotoGP fans will recall, the Aprilia rider was penalized for the incident he caused at the start of the race at the Balaton Park Circuit. During the various sessions he practiced long laps several times, preparing for this afternoon and even helping to clean the area located outside Turn 7.

Speaking of penalties, Toprak Razgatlioglu was penalized after Qualifying for impeding Enea Bastianini. He was handed a three-place grid drop, but since he qualified second-to-last he will simply start from the last slot on the grid.