Motorcycling-Marquez on pole for Czech MotoGP

The nine-time MotoGP World Championship victor is also looking forward to testing himself against Jorge Lorenzo to see if he can match his team-mate for pace.

He chalked up his first victory in 60 starts in the series in Austria, Ducati’s first win in six years, and now he is looking well dialled in for more of the same.

Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha, last year’s victor at Brno, was the first to break the circuit record on Saturday, only to come second in the end, trailing his compatriot Marquez by 0.253sec.

Dani Pedrosa topped Q1, but will start back in ninth place after such a promising start.

It was a remarkable moment by the series leader who came back strongly to better the circuit lap record with a time of 1m 55.840 secs.

Fresh from a podium fight at the Austrian Grand Prix, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP heads to the Brno for this weekend’s HJC Helmets Grand Prix Ceské republiky. Zarco’s margin at the top was tiny, however, as the Moto2™ grid prepare for another incredibly close weekend in the intermediate class.

Marquez then improved to slash that deficit to 0.331s on his Honda, before Lorenzo improved again in the 15-minute shootout, restoring a tenth back to his advantage. We are not the quickest yet, but it was important to make this step forward during FP2.

As a result, Tito Rabat will be the team’s sole representative at Brno this weekend.

Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) was the surprise of the day as the title contender suffered a tough day 1, ending track action in P16 on the combined timesheets.

“Now the bigger question mark is how are the weather conditions tomorrow because first of all we need to understand if it will be dry or wet”. At turn 13 around Brno circuit, Marquez lost the front end and somehow managed a miracle.

One attempt saw the points leader run off briefly, before his final lap saw him in the red and taking back the pole position.

“Lorenzo was fastest in FP3, so I tried to copy more his style here – [although] it’s completely different – and looks like it’s working well”. Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) was ninth quickest, ahead of Livio Loi (RW Racing GP BV) as the Belgian rider completed the top ten.