A historic Ducati first and five straight GP wins for Márquez

Ducati history was made at the Automotodrom Brno as Marc Márquez etched his name into the record books. As part of the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Desmosedici GP, he became the first rider of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer to claim five consecutive Grand Prix wins. While Márquez celebrated a dominant win, teammate Francesco Bagnaia narrowly missed out on a podium, finishing just half a second behind third place to claim fourth, after a solid but challenging final stint.

How the race unfolded

Márquez started the race in second and held his position firmly in the early stages. He briefly slipped to third but regained momentum by lap two, reclaiming second place. It wasn’t until lap eight, however, that he finally overtook race leader Bezzecchi after closely tailing him. From there, Márquez steadily pulled away and controlled the race to the chequered flag.

Márquez’s comments after the race summed up the twists and turns and what it took to get him over the line:

“I felt really good on the bike, just like in yesterday’s Sprint. I saw that in the early laps, Marco (Bezzecchi) was pushing hard and taking some risks, so I decided to wait as the race was a really long one. As soon as I noticed the first drop in terms of grip, I overtook him and pulled a gap and then controlled the race. To be honest, the feeling with the bike was superb – even better than the one I had at the Sachsenring. I was riding smoothly and had some margin to go even quicker. I’m very happy – I enjoyed this first part of the season: the team and the engineers have really done an excellent job.”

Bagnaia also started the race confidently but gradually slipped back before losing touch with the leading three. Pecco also had a surge of strength, making strong efforts to close the gap, but it wasn’t quite enough to get into the top three. Bagnaia was analytical and reflective in his assessment of how the race panned out for him:

“As the race progressed, I managed rear-end traction better and felt more comfortable as soon as I lowered the traction control level. As we didn’t have a dry FP2, I wasn’t able to do proper work with the mapping, so with less traction control, this area did improve. The front-end, however, did not allow me to hit the brakes hard. I’ve always been a rider who was hard to pass under braking, while the situation is opposite right now. We’re working in different areas in order to improve. Surely, the approach to the season has changed after these many races as it’s hard to think about fighting with Marc in these conditions – we must be realists. We need to reset and do the best we can, keeping Alex (Márquez) as our reference point.”

Ducati reflects on a well-fought victory

It was certainly a race for the ages and Ducati Corse Manager, Luigi Dall’Igna, agreed. He was full of praise for the team’s riders and looked ahead to the fulfilling their full potential:

“Marc delivered another outstanding performance – it looked easy, but it was anything but. The work done in this first part of the season was perfect – the results are evident, and he showed the type of champion he is. We’re still halfway, though, so we need to stay focused. Pecco showed some improvements in the race, and it was nice to see him competitive in the second half of the encounter. We’re aware that he’s still not fully comfortable, but we’re making steps forward; he’s giving his all, and it shows. The results will come, I’m sure of it.”

Scores on the doors

This concluded the twelfth Grand Prix of the season and sees Márquez take his points total to 381 points and is now 120 points ahead of Alex Márquez and 168 points ahead of his teammate Francesco Bagnaia, who’s sitting in third place. The Ducati Lenovo Team also top the team’s standings with 594 points and Ducati maintains the top spot in the manufacturer’s standings with 430 points.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will return from 15 to 17 August following the summer break at Spielberg in Austria for the thirteenth Grand Prix of the season. Here’s to more podium finishes, victories and continued Ducati dominance! 

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