Bagnaia scorches to Czech MotoGP sprint victory, Bezzecchi crashes

Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia scorched to victory in the Czech MotoGP sprint in Brno on Saturday ahead of pole sitter Ai Ogura on an Aprilia and Ducati teammate Marc Marquez.

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi started from fourth on the grid but failed to hold on to the spot and crashed out with two laps to go.

He has however retained the overall lead with 180 points ahead of Aprilia Racing teammate Jorge Martin with 165 and Fabio Di Giannantonio on a VR46 Ducati with 144.

The 29-year-old Bagnaia started from third on the grid and capitalised from a rocket start that saw him top the pack into turn one.

He hailed Ducati’s decision to use soft rear tyres on the burning hot tarmac.

“Luckily it was the correct one,” he said.

“The first two laps made everything. I started well, I tried to push, open the gap and then I tried to control a bit,” he added.

Ogura settled for second and never got close enough to attack the Italian in the lead.

“I thought that I could have something more at the end of the race,” said Ogura, riding on medium tyres both front and rear.

The 25-year-old Japanese rider topped Friday’s practice and then also dominated Saturday’s qualifying to clinch his first-ever MotoGP pole position.

Seven-time world champion Marc Marquez in turn did not find the pace to try to overtake Ogura, but he safely held off Di Giannantonio in the fourth spot.

Marquez won the last GP in Hungary two weeks ago and also dominated both the sprint and the race in the second Czech city of Brno in 2025.

Brazil’s Diogo Moreira got off to a great start from sixth on the grid, settling in the third place until turn 12 of the first lap when he crashed out.

Pedro Acosta, fourth overall, also crashed out of the sprint on lap five.