Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1537729
ROUND 12 / JULY 18-20, 2025 AUTODROMO BRNO / OSTROVACICE, CZECH REPUBLIC ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P80 MotoGP Sprint The Sprint race began with polesitter Bagnaia taking the holeshot, but he was quickly overtaken by Marquez at turn three. Early chaos saw Augusto Fernandez (Monster Energy Yamaha) crash at turn three on lap two, taking his fellow test rider Takaaki Nakagami (Idemit - su LCR Honda) out with him, while Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) dropped to 19th after a poor start. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) showed early promise, climb - ing into third by lap two ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), while Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing Team), returning from an extended injury layoff, was already show - ing signs of speed, moving up to seventh. Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Ajo) also moved up the order, passing Quartararo for fourth on lap four. Soon after, however, confu - sion reigned as Bagnaia slowed unexpectedly, losing positions to Acosta, Bastianini and Quar- tararo. One lap later, Marquez also eased off, allowing Acosta to take the lead. Both incidents were due to MotoGP's ridiculous tire-pressure rule, with Bagnaia receiving messages on his dash indicating he was out of the correct operating window and thus needed to raise his tire pressures, when in fact it was a glitch in how the Ducati was reading its pressures. Bagnaia's pressures were right all along. Marquez, on the other hand, was out of the pressure range. A rider cannot be under 1.88 25 RAUL FERNANDEZ 13TH/5TH MOTOGP "I'm very happy," Raul Fernandez said. "The beginning of the season wasn't easy for me, but we managed to improve everything step by step. Of course, we made a really good job today and during the weekend—this was my best weekend in MotoGP ever. I think there were two important keys: the first one was the qualifying, when I see we are quite far back, it's difficult at the beginning of the race. Today for me, it was quite easy, be- cause I didn't have a lot of problems to overtake other riders, and I also didn't have a lot of riders in front." 33 BRAD BINDER 10TH/8TH MOTOGP "I felt like I found extra pace come the Sprint race, and then in the main race, as well, I felt like I made a small improvement," Binder said. "However, it's nowhere near enough and not where I want to be at all. But currently I'm trying to figure things out, trying to find my speed, and I think from 19th on the grid it's always going to be a bit tricky. To finish eighth at the end, it's an improvement. I passed a few guys, and we've just got to keep working and try and figure this thing out." MYOWNRACE