Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo put in another masterclass of consistency for a lights-to-flag win at the Brno MoroGP round this afternoon, taking the holeshot ahead of Marc Marquez and crossing the line with a 4.462s second margin to draw level with team-mate Valentino Rossi at the top of the points table but takes top spot due to number of races won.
Lorenzo switched to medium compound tyres front and rear on the grid while Rossi used hard on both ends. Marquez went between the two with a hard rear but Lorenzo saw he had the pace with the softer tyres to get away at the front. Marquez was able to stay with him until mid-race but then the Mallorcan began to check out.
Rossi went backwards off the start and had to work his way past Bradley Smith and the works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso before he could start to chase down the leaders but even though he was able to match Lorenzo and Marquez for lap times as the laps wore down, his gap to Marquez at the chequered flag was a fraction under six seconds.
Once again Andrea Iannone put in a solid and consistent ride to take fourth place on the works Ducati while the injured Dani Pedrosa pinched fifth place from Dovizioso after the pair swapped places four times on the final two laps.
Smith, who swept into second place away into turn one after the lights went out, slipped back to seventh place to again finish as the top satellite rider while Monster Yamaha team-mate Pol Espargaro found pace at the end of the race but just couldn’t catch the British rider.
Brother Aleix Espargaro ended in ninth place with the Pramac Ducatis next along in tenth and 11th, Yonny Hernandez nicking a spot from Scott Redding with only two laps left. Alvaro Bautista beat Stefan Bradl to 13th place while Loris Baz was the top Open bike in 15th place.
Cal Crutchlow crashed out of tenth place with seven laps to go, losing the front into turn 11 while Eugene Laverty was also a faller, going down on lap three.
