Honda rider Marc Marquez dominated the Czech Grand Prix to score his third win of the 2017 MotoGP season, extending his lead in the championship.
The Spaniard lined up on pole position at the damp Brno track, with all 23 riders going for wet tyres despite sunny skies.
Marquez was the only rider to go for a soft wet rear tyre, but he struggled at the start, losing the lead to Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo before falling to the bottom of the top 10.
But, a brilliant strategy call to pit Marquez at the end of lap two for a switch to his bike with dry tyres proved to be perfectly-timed and brought him right back into contention.
A few others pitted at the end of the next lap, but the leading pack remained on track on wet tyres – with Lorenzo leading Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, with Johann Zarco fourth after a strong start.
Lorenzo dived into the pits to change to his dry-shod bike at the end of the fourth tour, just after losing first place to Rossi, but he lost time with a slow pitstop and this dropped him back.
Rossi, Dovizioso and Zarco remained out front, but they were rapidly losing time to Marquez, who was the quickest driver on the circuit.
It took until lap five for Rossi and Dovizioso to change bikes and go to slicks, while Zarco stayed out one lap longer, despite already being passed by Marquez.
The reigning world champion had a clear lead over the rest of the field, and he finished 12.4 seconds clear of his nearest rival to claim his 32nd MotoGP victory. His lead in the standings is now 14 points.
His team-mate Dani Pedrosa made it a Honda 1-2 at Brno, having followed Lorenzo into the pits on lap four and moving up the field to finish runner-up.
Maverick Vinales was another rider to stop on lap four and claimed third, after a late pass on LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, who lost P4 to Rossi on the final lap.
Dovizioso was the lead Ducati in sixth, ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Aleix Espargaro – who picks up a three-place grid penalty for an unsafe release, which caused Andrea Iannone to fall.
Pol Espargaro was ninth, with Jonas Folger completing the top 10 despite pitting twice within the space of just two laps. Lorenzo failed to recover from his poor stop and was 15th.
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