August 2, 2017
Marquez Leads The Way as MotoGP Goes Back to Business
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) goes into the second half of the 2017 season at the head of the World Championship and aiming to maintain his advantage to secure his fourth MotoGP title in five years.
The triple MotoGP champion’s second win of 2017 at the last race in Germany put him on top for the first time this season. Now, back from the summer break which included a chance for valuable testing, it is time for the defender to capitalize on his position.
Last year at the sweeping Czech venue Marquez qualified on pole and finished third in a race hit by difficult mixed conditions. He has won on two races at Brno – the MotoGP race in 2013 and the Moto2 race in 2012.
This year, after losing points with two tumbles in the first five races, the 24-year-old Spaniard has kept his eyes on the main prize. He scored his first win at COTA in April and since those tumbles in Argentina and France he has made sure he doesn’t ride beyond the limit; so he finished sixth at Mugello, where he had issues with the front tire, and then took a second, a third and a win at the last three races.
His Sachsenring victory was his eighth in a row at the anti-clockwise German track and took him to the top of a championship chase that has the leading four riders covered by just ten points, an all-time record at a season’s halfway point.
Team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) is still within distance of the lead group, with one win and three more podium finishes putting him fifth overall. The 31-year-old former 125cc and double 250cc World Champion is in his 12th consecutive season with the factory Repsol Honda team, having won at least one MotoGP race every season since 2006. Pedrosa has won twice in the past five years in the premier class at Brno, as well as a 250 win in 2005 and a 125 success in 2003.
Brno is a happy hunting ground for Honda’s top independent-team rider Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V). The gritty Briton took his first MotoGP victory here last year, in a courageous ride through the pack on a drying circuit. He followed that with another win later in the year, but has yet to finish better than third this season. The former Supersport World Champion, who recently signed up for 2018 and 2019 with HRC, also fills an important testing role for Honda. He lies tenth overall in the championship.
Two more independent-team riders campaign Honda’s mighty 1000cc V4, both wearing the same colors. Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) is the more successful, currently holding 12th overall. The former Moto3 star started his third season in the premier class with a series of top-ten finishes, although a heavy crash at round five dented his confidence. Sixth place at Assen two races ago showed the young Australian has regained momentum. Miller comes to Brno after a strong ride in the hugely prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours, where he rode the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO. Honda CBR1000RR SP2 to fourth place, following a team-mate’s crash.
Miller’s MotoGP team-mate Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) has scored points in four of the last five rounds. The former Moto2 World Champion knows the fast line at Brno – he won the Czech Moto2 race in 2014 and last year claimed one of his two top-ten finishes at the track.
The battle for the premier-class world title has never been closer in 69 seasons of GP racing, so it’s no surprise that the contest for this year’s Moto2 crown isn’t quite as close, even though all riders use identical race-tuned Honda CBR600 engines.
Moto2’s biggest winner of 2017 is Italian Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) who won six of the first nine races to give him a handsome 37-point lead going into the second half of the championship. The 22-year-old Italian, who will move to MotoGP on Honda machinery next year, is on another level this season, so this Sunday he should be able to improve on his best performance at Brno: two eighth-place finishes last year and in 2014.
Morbidelli’s closest title challenger is Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten Kalex). The Swiss rider has yet to win a race this year but built his championship challenge with a run of seven podiums from the first eight races. That run ended last time out in Germany where he crashed. Luthi tasted Brno victory in 2005, the second win of his 125 championship-winning season; and stood on the podium in Moto2 in 2012 and 2013.
Morbidelli’s team-mate and younger brother to Marc, Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) has won twice this year, but he also crashed out in Germany, which dropped him to fourth overall behind Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM). Oliveira has twice finished second in his second season in the intermediate class.
Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) is the only other race winner. The 31-year-old Italian veteran, who uses a front brake mounted on the left handlebar, scored a hugely popular home win at Mugello, his first GP victory since 2009. Pasini lies sixth overall, with rookie Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46 Kalex) one place ahead of him.
Seventh-placed Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex) and ninth-placed Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing Suter) return to Moto2 action after dueling for a podium result at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Nakagami partnered Miller and Takumi Takahashi to fourth overall, while Aegerter climbed the podium with team-mates Randy de Puniet and Josh Hook after finishing third on the F.C.C. TSR Honda CBR1000RR SP2.
Honda’s NSF250RW has dominated the first half of the 2017 Moto3 World Championship, winning all but one of the nine races, and achieving a top-three podium lock-out at no less than seven events.
But one Honda rider has risen head and shoulders above the rest. Joan Mir (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) has a lead of 37 points over Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers Honda NSF250RW). The Spaniard has won five races, Fenati just one, although four second places have earned the Italian valuable points.
Third overall, another Spaniard, Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW), has claimed the other two Honda wins.
Next up, 21 points away, is Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW), after a remarkable first half of the season in which he qualified fastest six times but didn’t win a race. Worse still, a crash in practice for the last round eliminated him from the race, with a broken ankle.
His team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) is just four points behind him, and another two points away in sixth lies Scotsman John McPhee (British Team Honda NSF250RW). Enea Bastianini (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) is ninth overall.
Brno has been part of the World Championship calendar since the mid-1960s, when the nation’s Grand Prix was staged around a 10.92km/6.785-mile street circuit on the outskirts of the city. Mike Hailwood won the 1966 and 1967 500 GPs there on his Honda RC181 four, but the circuit was deemed too dangerous, and hosted its last premier-class GP in 1977.
It took a decade before the current Brno circuit was completed. Honda has enjoyed great success at this fast, undulating circuit which features many tricky downhill corners that require a perfect chassis set-up. Marquez, Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Tadayuki Okada, Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau have all won premier-class races with Honda at the modern Brno venue.
MotoGP riders have a day of testing after Sunday’s racing before they cross into Austria for next weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. The 2017 season concludes at Valencia, Spain, on November 12.
Honda MotoGP rider quotes
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team:
“I enjoyed having time to rest and go to the sea with some friends, but I also used this long summer break to train for the second part of the championship. Such a close season is exciting but also very demanding, meaning that you have to always keep your concentration high and try to constantly be at the best level possible, adapting to every situation. So it was good to go testing at Brno during the summer break because it allowed us to work on the bike and stay focused on the job. Brno is a nice track but one of the most demanding, with many changes of direction and uphill and downhill sections. We’ll try to make the best of the work we’ve done during the test and to prepare to fight for the podium on Sunday.”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team:
“We’ve had four weeks without racing but not entirely without action as we had a positive test in Brno in mid-July which was very useful for working on the setup of our bike. The weather was good and we could fully exploit both days. I’ve been training in anticipation for second half of the season but I also had time for some holidays, which was good to disconnect a bit and recharge the batteries. Now I’m looking forward to jumping on my bike again at Brno which is one of my favorite tracks on the calendar. I have some very good memories there and together with my team I’ll do my utmost to get another good result next Sunday.”
Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda:
“This summer break has been pretty long but I could spend time off with Willow and Lucy away from the race track and of course I have trained a lot on my bicycle. We had test in Brno on 17th of July with Marc and Dani. The test purpose was to work on bike setup improvements and tires selection. We did not test new parts. The lap time was not our priority. Now we go back to the racetrack where I gained my first MotoGP victory in 2016 so the expectations are pretty high. I am going to do my 100% together with my Team and let’s see what the weekend brings…for sure the aim is to be in the front.”
Jack Miller, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“This weekend will be interesting, after getting back from the Suzuka 8 Hours. That was my first time in an endurance race and I really enjoyed it, so a big thank you to the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO. Honda team. We were unlucky to have a crash and a puncture during the race, so we all had to work hard to finish in fourth place. Now it’s back to the day job! I’m coming back into MotoGP after a lot of riding last weekend, so it shouldn’t take me long to get back to speed. I like Brno, like most riders, so I’m hoping for a fun, dry weekend.”
Tito Rabat, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“I’ve ridden a lot of different bikes over the summer break, but I’m looking forward to getting back on the Honda RC213V this weekend, because nothing compares to racing a MotoGP bike! Brno was difficult for me last season but I think our bike this year is much better suited to the characteristics of the track, which is a bit like Mugello with very few hard accelerations, so that gives me some confidence going into this race. We still need to keep improving, that is clear, but we worked hard during the first half of the season and I’ll continue to push together with my crew during the second half, starting this weekend in Brno.”
Moto2 rider quotes
Franco Morbidelli, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:
“It was nice to kick back at home, recharge the batteries and spend time with friends and family during the summer break, especially after ending the first half of the season with four races in five weekends. But now the break is over and we head to Brno this weekend determined to start the second half of the season in the same way we finished the first half. We need to continue to work hard and not to lose sight of the fact that, in the fight for the championship, you need to be clever and push for the win when it’s possible and pick up important points when it’s not. It’s been an enjoyable break, but now I’m ready to race again.”
Thomas Luthi, CarXpert Interwetten:
“First at all, I have to remember that my first 125 team, managed by Daniel Epp, was Czech. Also, Brno has always been something to me. Last year I had a big crash on Saturday and I wasn’t able to race. This year I feel very optimistic about the race. I had a good time during the four-week break to refill my energy, work at training and enjoy a few days at the beach. We also had two days of testing at Brno, during which we tried a few new things, but because we were the only Moto2 team there it’s difficult to understand our level.”
Miguel Oliveira, Red Bull KTM Ajo:
“I’ve had a great summer holiday, spending some time with my family, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who is keen to get back on track. Obviously we were happy with how things went in the first half of the season – three podiums with a brand-new bike isn’t so bad! Some results were better than we had expected, but now we know we are competitive at most tracks we can try to push forward to the next step, which is challenging for the win. I’ve yet to finish on a GP podium at Brno, so a top-three finish is our aim this weekend.”
Honda Moto3 rider quotes
Joan Mir, Leopard Racing:
“Finally, the wait is over and I can’t wait to go racing again! It’s been a long break, which has been good, but now I am more than ready to continue the season. We will have to work hard to make sure we continue where we left off, always working with the same aim: to get the bike right and then to go into the race with an open mind, because you just don’t know what to expect in Moto3 races.”
Romano Fenati, Marinelli Rivacold Snipers:
“After the summer break I am really looking forward to getting back on the racetrack. During the break I continued to train and also I took my time to relax without losing the focus on the championship. I am really happy to have found the agreement with my current team for the Moto2 project for the next year, so now we can concentrate better on the second part of this championship. Brno is an amazing track, full of history and it’s also very difficult. We will continue to work as we did in the last few races to get the best possible result.”
Aron Canet, Estrella Galicia 0,0:
“I’ve been training with intensity these past few weeks. We are trying to get to Brno in top shape, both technically and physically. After the test that we carried out at Brno, which was especially positive, we have the expectation of riding in the front group and fighting for the podium, as I did in the first part of the season. We also have the problems from the last race at Sachsenring as a motivating factor. Both my team and I are looking forward to this Grand Prix and want to do the best possible.”
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