Marc Marquez claimed his eleventh sprint victory of the season in Brno, leading home Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini in a tyre-pressure-drama-filled race.
Poleman Francesco Bagnaia nailed the start, holding the holeshot into Turn 1, while Alex Marquez plummeted to 20th after a nightmare getaway.
🚥 LIGHTS OUT in the #TissotSprint 🚥@PeccoBagnaia nails the start! #CzechGP 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/PAzJBJLPjk
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) July 19, 2025
Marc Marquez wasted no time, dispatching his teammate Bagnaia by Turn 5 on the opening lap.
Acosta slotted into third after passing Fabio Quartararo later that same lap, and by Lap 4, Marquez had opened up a full second over Bagnaia as the KTM riders surged forward.
All four KTMs made early progress with Acosta and Bastianini leading the charge for the Austrian manufacturer.
There was light contact between Bezzecchi and Quartararo on Lap 3, forcing the Aprilia rider wide and allowing Bastianini to sneak through.
A lap later, Quartararo ran wide at Turn 13, and Bastianini capitalized again to take P4.
By mid-race, Marquez looked to be managing things from the front when disaster hit Ducati.
On Lap 5, the Italians’ tyre pressure management plan quickly fell apart. First Bagnaia was forced to deliberately go off the gas down the main straight to let Acosta, Bastianini and Quartararo through with race leader Marquez quickly following his teammate a lap later.
🤯🤯🤯 @marcmarquez93 has slowed down and @37_pedroacosta IS LEADING #CzechGP 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/b2TDbUHqD2
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) July 19, 2025
Both Ducati riders had tyre pressure warnings pop up on their dashboards and scrambled for a rear tyre to get back within the legal limits of 1.8 bar.
Having been gifted two positions, Acosta led heading into the final three laps, but once Marquez had fulfilled the minimum lap requirement for legal tyre pressure, he launched a renewed attack.
Lap 9 saw him take back the lead and instantly gap Acosta by 0.3s, rapidly stretching that to nearly a second by the flag.
He – in unison with Ai Ogura and Alex Rins – faced an investigation for a tyre pressure infringement but was soon cleared of any wrongdoing.
Behind the top two, illness returnee Bastianini completed the podium – his first for KTM/Tech3 – fending off a late-charging Marco Bezzecchi.
Quartararo was Yamaha’s best in 5th ahead of Raul Fernandez who pipped polesitter Bagnaia for P6 on the final lap.
Scenes from the Ducati box showed a very agitated Bagnaia after a wrong tyre pressure setting by his team clearly ruined his chances at a podium.
Johann Zarco and Pol Espargaro completed the points-scoring places. VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed out with six laps to go.
A very unfortunate one 💥@Afernandez37 and @takanakagami30 are out 💔#CzechGP 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/xhaTod4mHJ
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) July 19, 2025
He wasn’t the only rider ending his sprint race early as LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez collided on lap two.
