bwin Grand Prix of the Czech Republic 2015
Posted on Aug 11, 2015 by Nick Harris
ROUND ELEVEN 2015 MotoGP™ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - SUNDAY 16th AUGUST
Kent puts Indy disaster behind him
Moto3™ World Championship leader Danny Kent returns to Brno for round 11 of the championship determined to put the disappointment of the previous round at Indianapolis behind him at the bwin Grand Prix of the Czech Republic. The 21 year old Wiltshire rider still leads the title chase by an impressive 56 points despite difficult weather conditions pushing him down to a non-points scoring 21st place finish in America. Last year he was third in the Brno race behind French veteran Alexis Masbou and Italian teenager Enea Bastianini.
Twenty one year old Scotsman John McPhee would love a repeat of the Indy conditions after brilliant second place on the Racing Steps Foundation supported RTG Honda. It was his first ever grand prix podium finish and the ideal start to the second half of the season after a difficult first half.
Oxfordshire’s Bradley Smith continues his brilliant MotoGP™ season with his fifth sixth position of the season at Indianapolis. The Monster Tech3 Yamaha rider consolidated his fifth place in the world championship and will pushing for at least a fifth place after almost pipping Andrea Iannone last time out. It’s a tough season for Isle of Man – based midlander Cal Crutchlow. The CWM LCR Honda rider is eighth in the Championship, 23 points behind Smith and just one point in front of Smith’s team-mate Pol Espargaro.
Gloucestershire’s Scott Redding needs a change of fortune riding the factory-supported Marc VDS Honda. He was 13th at Indy and lies 14th in the Championship, while Irish Aspar Honda rider Eugene Laverty missed out on the points in Indy finishing 19th and lies 22nd in the Championship, one point behind his team-mate Nicky Hayden.
After his crash at Indy, 24 year old Lincolnshire rider Sam Lowes slipped two places down to fifth in the Moto2™ World Championship. The Speed Up rider is just two points behind former 125cc World Champion Tom Luthi.
Lorenzo closing in on team-mate Rossi
Just a slender nine points separate Movistar Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo as they fight for the world title at the bwin Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at the legendary Brno circuit on Sunday.
Lorenzo pulled back another four precious points after finishing second in the previous Indianapolis round, but faces Rossi who has a great record at the undulating 3.357 miles circuit. The nine times world champion has won five MotoGP™ races at the circuit and won his first ever grand prix in the 1996 125cc race at the circuit. Lorenzo has won once in the MotoGP class at Brno and finished second last year behind the Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa, who recorded his second win there in the top class.
World Champion Marc Marquez arrives 56 points behind Rossi but chasing his third successive win. Last year he finished fourth, his first non-victory of the season, and he is in great form but may be just too many points adrift to catch the Yamahas with eight rounds remaining. He moved into third place in the Championship after his Indianapolis win and like Lorenzo has one MotoGP victory at Brno. Andrea Iannone slipped to fourth on the factory Ducati with Bradley Smith consolidating his fifth place after his fifth sixth position of the season. He is three points in front of Andrea Dovizioso who in turn leads Pedrosa by 14 points. Just one point separate Pol Espargaro and Cal Crutchlow in their fight for eighth. The Forward Yamaha Racing duo of Loris Baz and Claudio Corti will return after missing Indianapolis.
Frenchman Johann Zarco has opened up a massive 71 point lead in the Moto2™ World Championship and is going to take some catching. His second place at Indianapolis was his ninth successive podium finish of the season. Nineteen year old Spaniard Alex Rins won his first Moto2 race at Indy and moved into second place in the championship in front of world champion and last year’s winner Tito Rabat. The experienced Tom Luthi moved into fourth in front of Sam Lowes who crashed out.
Moto3™ Championship leader Danny Kent arrives at Brno, where he finished third last year, determined to put the disappointment of Indianapolis behind him. The Leopard Racing Honda rider still leads the title chase by 56 points despite being caught out by the change of weather and finishing 21st. Seventeen year old Italian Enea Bastianini pulled back ten points on Kent after finishing sixth with Romano Fenati moving into third after a fourth place finish in Indianapolis. Eighteen year old Belgian Livio Loi won the Indianapolis race but only some more freak weather on Sunday would give him the chance of a repeat victory.
Brno Bits
• This year’s Czech Grand Prix will be the 46th to be held at Brno.
• The only venue that has hosted more grand prix events than Brno is Assen in The Netherlands, which has hosted the Dutch TT in each of the 67 years of the motorcycling world championship.
• The first Czechoslovakian Grand Prix was held at Brno in 1965. The 500cc race held over thirteen laps of the original 13.94 km long road circuit was won by Mike Hailwood (MV Agusta) in a time of 1hr 11 min 23.2 sec.
• The circuit was shortened to 10.92 km in 1975 in an effort to improve safety.
• The last premier-class race held on the road circuit at Brno was in 1977 and was won by Johnny Cecotto riding a Yamaha. The circuit was subsequently considered too dangerous for the large capacity machines.
• The smaller capacity machines continued to compete in grand prix races on the Brno road circuit until 1982 before it was removed from the grand prix calendar for safety reasons.
• The current circuit was first used for grand prix racing in 1987 and hosted the Czechoslovakian GP through until 1991. Brno did not appear on the calendar for 1992, but the event was revived in 1993 as the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic and has taken place every year since.
• This will be the 28th time that the current circuit has hosted a grand prix event, during which time the circuit has remained virtually unchanged; minor modifications were made to the circuit in 1996 which extended the length from 5.394 km to the current 5.403 km.
• Since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP class in 2002, Honda have had six victories at Brno, Yamaha have had five and Ducati two.
• Honda riders have won at Brno for the last four years, the last Yamaha win was by Jorge Lorenzo in 2010.
• There has only been one podium finish by a Czech rider at the current Brno circuit across all classes – Lukas Pesek’s third place in the 125cc race in 2007 riding a Derbi.
• The best result by a Czech rider in the MotoGP class at the Brno circuit is Karel Abraham’s ninth place finish in 2012.
• The two riders with most grand prix wins at the current Brno circuit, each with seven wins, are Max Biaggi (4 x 250cc, 2 x 500cc, 1 x MotoGP) and Valentino Rossi (1x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP).
• The last time that a rider qualifying on pole has won the MotoGP race at Brno was Valentino Rossi in 2009. Since 2009 no rider qualifying higher than third place on the grid has won the MotoGP race at Brno.
• Alexis Masbou took his maiden GP victory at Brno last year in what was his 133rd Grand Prix start, all of which have been in the Moto3/125cc class, a record for the number of race starts in the lightweight class to the first grand prix win in the class.
• Last year at Brno, the last point scoring finisher in the Moto3 race, Czech rider Karel Hanika, crossed the line just 1.838 seconds behind race winner Masbou; this is the closest top fifteen of all-time in the 67 years of motorcycle grand prix racing.
• Dani Pedrosa won the MotoGP race at Brno last year, ending a run of ten successive wins by Marc Marquez.
Television Times
BT Sport2
Friday August 14 8.00am – 3.00pm (practise)
Saturday August 15 8.00am – 3-15pm (practice and qualifying)
Sunday August 16 7.30am – 3.00pm (warm –up and races)
ITV 4 Highlights
Monday August 17 8.00 - 9.00 pm