MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 11 / AUGUST 16, 2015
BRNO CIRCUIT / BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
P78
FLYIN' FRENCHMAN
After the excitement of Indy, the middle class was back
to normal at Brno—an austere race with few changes of
position up front and the podium exactly matching the front
row of the grid.
It was not without tension, however, as championship
leader Johann Zarco lapped steadily up front, while defend-
ing champion Tito Rabat chased remorselessly, still barely
a second adrift at the finish.
Zarco started from pole, and though it was Rabat who
led through the first corners, and Thomas Luthi on the
Derendinger Kalex leading the first lap, the Frenchman im-
mediately took over. Rabat followed him past on lap three,
but a near high-side a little further round gave Zarco a lead
of almost a second, and in a flawless display he held it to
the finish.
"I was ready to fight if he came, but when the fuel load
lightened, I could get a good rhythm," Zerco explained.
Rins took fourth off Dominique Aegerter on the Tech-
nomag Kalex on lap two; the Swiss rider thereafter fading
steadily to an eventual 13th. Compatriot Luthi was also un-
able to sustain the pace, and by lap eight Rins was ahead.
Rabat's Estrella Galicia 0,0 Kalex teammate Alex Mar-
quez was having the best day of his first Moto2 season,
moving steadily forward from eighth on lap one. By the
fourth he had cleared Franco Morbidelli on the Italtrans
Kalex to tag on behind former Moto3 teammate and rival
Rins. He stayed close until the closing stages, just over two
seconds away at the end for a career-best fourth.
One of the strongest rides came from Sam Lowes on the
lone Speed Up who qualified only 13th after a disastrous
session ended prematurely when his rear suspension link
collapsed.
