Moto2™ – Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) holds off opposition for Moto2™ Brno win.

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The Moto2™ World Championship fired back into life after the Summer break at the Automotodrom Brno, for the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky. 8 riders came into the round with just 52 points covering them, meaning plenty of changes were possible. Starting from his eighth Moto2™ pole, Championship leader Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) made it a fifth win of 2019, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) and comeback rookie, Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team), with two rookies on the rostrum.

Off the line, it was a lightening start from Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), who claimed the holeshot ahead of Marquez and Lorenzo Baldassarri (FLEXBOX HP 40). By Turn 3, Marquez hit the front and by the end of the first lap, he had 0.8s on the field. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) was up to third and began to hunt Lowes. The first crasher was Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) at Turn 9 but remounted.

Di Giannantonio took second place at Turn 1 on Lap 2 from Lowes, making a slick move before setting about chasing down Marquez. Straight away, he was nearly three tenths quicker than Marquez, but the Spaniard responded a lap later, keeping the gap stable between the two. It was a disaster on Lap 3 for Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP), who crashed out of the top ten at Turn 5, influencing the Championship dynamic with Lüthi being placed second behind Marquez in the standings.

Behind the leading duo, Schrötter was up to third place, ahead of the SKY Racing Team VR46 pairing of Luca Marini and Nicolo Bulega. Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) confirmed the strengths of Speed Up at Brno and was placed in sixth, ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), sporting the new chassis for the Austrian manufacturer.

It was a great start for Moto2™ rookie Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team), who qualified down in 18th and was now up to 8th, ahead of Augusto Fernandez (FLEXBOX HP 40) and a struggling Sam Lowes, who completed the top ten. Former Moto2™ Championship leader Baldassarri was only eleventh.

However, Lowes’ day got worse on Lap 9, as the British rider crashed out at Turn 7. He wasn’t the only crasher on that lap though, as Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) also bit the dirt. Meanwhile, back at the sharp end of things, Jorge Navarro passed Bulega at Turn 1 on Lap 10, edging closer to the podium positions.

Navarro’s progress didn’t stop there, as with eight laps to go, he got ahead of Marcel Schrötter and then – a lap later – disposed of Luca Marini. Speed Up were now looking at their first double podium since MotorLand Aragon with Andrea Iannone and Gabor Talmasci, way back in the first season of Moto2™ in 2010.

With just five laps left to go, Lorenzo Baldassarri was struggling to hold on to his top ten placing, as Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM) was putting pressure on the Italian. On the exit of Turn 14, tremendous drive from Lecuona gave him the ability to fly ahead of Baldassarri, who could do nothing to overcome it. It was a disaster for Brad Binder, who crashed at Turn 11 in the latter stages.

Further up the field, Enea Bastianini had now got ahead of Schrötter, placing fifth – all the way up from 18th on the grid. The rookie Italian didn’t stop there, as he then closed down Jorge Navarro in the final two laps, and suddenly, a double Speed Up podium didn’t look so likely.

Marquez took the win to go to Austria with a 33-point advantage, whilst Fabio Di Giannantonio clinched his first Moto2™ podium in second. However, in a last lap surge, Bastianini pinched the final podium slot with a good move at Turn 10, leaving Navarro no chance to respond. It was a first Moto2™ podium for ‘The Beast’, whilst Navarro and Luca Marini completed the top five.

Marcel Schrötter managed to finish sixth, whilst Nicolo Bulega took his best result in Moto2™ with seventh. Augusto Fernandez was up in eighth place ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), up from 17th on the grid, whilst Iker Lecuona completed the top ten, just edging out Lorenzo Baldassarri.

Top 10:
1. Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS)
2. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) + 3.018
3. Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) + 4.158
4. Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) + 4.290
5. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 7.031
6. Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) + 8.847
7. Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 8.937
8. Augusto Fernandez (FLEXBOX HP 40) + 11.900
9. Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) + 12.896
10. Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM) +19.079

MONSTER ENERGY GRAND PRIX ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY

Moto2 Race Classification 2019.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	158.6	38’49.768
2	20	21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Beta Tools Speed Up	Speed Up	158.4	+3.018
3	16	33	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	158.3	+4.158
4	13	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Beta Tools Speed Up	Speed Up	158.3	+4.290
5	11	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	158.1	+7.031
6	10	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	158.0	+8.847
7	9	11	Nicolo BULEGA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	158.0	+8.937
8	8	40	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	FLEXBOX HP 40	Kalex	157.8	+11.900
9	7	45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	157.7	+12.896
10	6	27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	American Racing KTM	KTM	157.3	+19.079
11	5	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	FLEXBOX HP 40	Kalex	157.2	+20.248
12	4	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	157.1	+21.424
13	3	88	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	157.0	+23.119
14	2	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	156.8	+25.850
15	1	35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	156.8	+26.240
16		87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	156.8	+26.714
17		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	156.6	+28.917
18		96	Jake DIXON	GBR	Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team	KTM	156.4	+32.573
19		94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	156.4	+32.979
20		62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	MV Agusta Temporary Forward	MV Agusta	156.2	+35.664
21		77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	MV Agusta Temporary Forward	MV Agusta	156.2	+35.865
22		4	Steven ODENDAAL	RSA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	155.5	+46.357
23		65	Philipp OETTL	GER	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	155.2	+50.454
24		97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	154.7	+58.874
25		18	Xavi CARDELUS	AND	Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team	KTM	154.3	+1’04.629
Not Classified
		41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	157.6	7 Laps
		22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	157.2	11 Laps
		54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	156.4	11 Laps
		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	155.7	16 Laps
		3	Lukas TULOVIC	GER	Kiefer Racing	KTM	153.8	16 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2019.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	161
2	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	128
3	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	110
4	Jorge NAVARRO	Speed Up	SPA	110
5	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	107
6	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	102
7	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	101
8	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	84
9	Enea BASTIANINI	Kalex	ITA	74
10	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Speed Up	ITA	57
11	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	52
12	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	44
13	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	39
14	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	38
15	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	33
16	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	33
17	Nicolo BULEGA	Kalex	ITA	25
18	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	18
19	Jorge MARTIN	KTM	SPA	13
20	Dominique AEGERTER	MV Agusta	SWI	12
21	Stefano MANZI	MV Agusta	ITA	10
22	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	10
23	Marco BEZZECCHI	KTM	ITA	10
24	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	7
25	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NTS	NED	5
26	Jake DIXON	KTM	GBR	4
27	Joe ROBERTS	KTM	USA	4
28	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER	3
29	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	3
30	Jesko RAFFIN	NTS	SWI	3
31	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA
32	Jonas FOLGER	Kalex	GER
33	Philipp OETTL	KTM	GER
34	Xavi CARDELUS	KTM	AND
35	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Kalex	INA
36	Gabriele RUIU	MV Agusta	ITA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of MotoGP.com

Moto2™ – Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) holds off opposition for Moto2™ Brno win.

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MONSTER ENERGY GRAND PRIX ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY

Moto2 World Standing 2019.

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