IIIMY OWN RACE:
44 POL ESPARGARO
DNF MOTOGP
"It's unfair but it is racing, and we
have to deal with these things," Pol
Espargaro said. "I was behind Brad and
watching the others and playing with
the maps to be strong at the end. I
felt I could make '58s in the last laps,
so I was trying to be relaxed when the
contact happened. I could not show
my poten al and win the first race for
KTM, but I'm happy for Brad because
he's a good guy and works hard. We
had a real chance today and we'll hope
for another one very soon."
04 ANDREA DOVIZIOSO
11TH MOTOGP
"It was a pre y weird weekend,"
Andrea Dovi said. "Unfortunately, we
have not yet iden fied the reason for
our problems. Today the res have
been affected a lot by the wear, and
they didn't allow us to express our-
selves to our best, but s ll, we don't
know if [it was] the res that made
the big difference today in the race.
On the other hand, Zarco has been the
protagonist of a great weekend, and
this allows us to have some data to
analyze, to understand the situa on
be er."
third, although it was not with-
out controversy. Zarco and Pol
Espargaro controversially touched
at turn one after Espargaro ran
wide, the result being Espargaro
tumbling through the gravel trap,
ruining any chance of a double
dry-weather podium for KTM.
Zarco was thus handed a long
lap penalty, remarkably not losing
one place in doing so. He came
under intense pressure on the
final lap from Suzuki's Alex Rins
as his rear tire went to shreds
but managed to nurse the Ducati
home for third place. Fifth went
to Valentino Rossi (Monster En-
ergy Yamaha).
In Moto2, Italtrans Racing
Team's Enea Bastianini produced
perfection again in order to claim
his second lights-to-flag victory
in as many Moto2 races. The
Italian was placed under pres-
MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P58
Johann Zarco's ride
was reminiscent of
his Yamaha days—
inch perfect and
fast as hell. The
Frenchman put the
Ducati on pole but
couldn't quite match
the speed of the front
two, settling for third.
After his touch with
Pol Espargaro, Zarco
showed just how fast
you can go through
the Long Lap penalty
lane by scything
through the tight line,
on a dirty surface,
and not losing a
place.
ROUND 3 / AUGUST 7-9, 2020
AUTOMOTODROM BRNO / BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
