Marquez takes dramatic 11th sprint race win of the MotoGP season

Marc Marquez secured his 11th sprint race victory of the MotoGP season with a dramatic win at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.

The Spaniard, starting from second on the grid behind teammate Francesco Bagnaia, overtook the Italian under braking into turn three.

The Ducati duo initially pulled away from the chasing pack, but midway through the race, their pace dropped, likely due to low front tire pressure.

On lap five, Bagnaia was overtaken by Pedro Acosta and subsequently lost further positions to Enea Bastianini and Fabio Quartararo.

A lap later, Marquez also slowed, allowing Acosta through and trailing the KTM rider for several laps, seemingly in an attempt to raise his front tire pressure.

Sprint race regulations stipulate that front tire pressure must remain above a minimum threshold (1.80 bar) for at least 30% of the race distance.

In this case, that equated to three of the ten laps.

Any rider failing to meet this requirement incurs an eight-second penalty.

In full races, the requirement increases to 60% of the distance, with a 16-second penalty.

Marquez regained the lead midway through the penultimate lap, passing Acosta in the sweeping turns eight and nine at the exit of the stadium section.

Acosta considered a counter-attack under braking for turn ten but opted against the risk, settling for second.

At the finish line, the pair were separated by 0.7 seconds, with Bastianini taking a strong third place in his return to MotoGP.

"The Beast" missed the German Grand Prix the previous weekend due to food poisoning, which was so severe that doctors initially suspected appendicitis.

Marco Bezzecchi and Quartararo finished fourth and fifth, respectively, while Raul Fernandez passed Bagnaia on the final lap to claim sixth ahead of the two-time world champion.

The final points-paying positions went to Johann Zarco and Pol Espargaro, who is standing in for the injured Maverick Vinales at Tech3 KTM this weekend.

World champion Jorge Martin made a strong start from 12th, climbing to seventh before fading back to 11th by the finish.

His struggles, however, paled in comparison to those of Alex Marquez.

The Gresini Ducati rider suffered a disastrous start from eighth, plummeting to the back of the field and later making contact with teammate Fermin Aldeguer to finish a lowly 17th.

This result cost Alex Marquez 12 valuable points to his brother Marc in the championship battle.

The factory Ducati rider was investigated for a potential tire pressure infringement, but during the podium ceremony, it was announced that no penalty would be applied.

The same was true for Ai Ogura and Alex Rins, who finished 16th and 18th and were also under investigation.

Marc Marquez now holds a 95-point lead over his brother Alex in the championship standings.

Bagnaia sits third, 156 points adrift of the elder Marquez brother.

The Czech Republic Grand Prix, round 12 of the 2025 MotoGP season, is scheduled for 2 PM GMT tomorrow.