Lorenzo Wins Czech Grand Prix to Tighten MotoGP Championship Fight with Valentino Rossi

It’s Czech Mate for Jorge Lorenzo.

The 28-year-old Spanish motorcycle road racer won the Czech Grand Prix on Sunday for his fifth triumph of the season to tighten the MotoGP championship fight with Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi.

Jorge Lorenzo

Lorenzo and Rossi lead the overall standings with 211 points and seven races to go. Defending champion Marc Marquez is 52 points back.

Lorenzo with the Movistar Yamaha team covered 22 laps of the 5.403-kilometer (3.358-mile) Brno circuit in 42 minutes, 53.042 seconds for his 38th overall MotoGP victory.

With a perfect start from pole, Lorenzo took the lead, followed by Marquez, and gradually sped away, steadily stretching his advantage throughout the race.

“Luckily, I had a little bit more pace than Marc and I could win this very important victory … because now I’m leading the championship with Valentino,” said Lorenzo, the 2010 and 2012 MotoGP champion. “For Marc, it’s now more difficult to recover.”

Marquez finished second, 4.462 seconds behind and is 52 points back in the standings.

Marquez, who won the last two championships, finished second, 4.462 seconds behind.

“I just tried to keep the distance from Valentino,” the Spaniard said. “Today, I did the maximum. I’m happy for the result.”

Starting third on the grid, Rossi dropped to fifth after the start before quickly rallying to third. He crossed the line 10.397 back. Andrea Iannone on a Ducati was fourth followed by Dani Pedrosa, the Honda Repsol teammate of Marquez.

The next race is the British Grand Prix on August 30.

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