The Brno GP was drenched in rains before the start of the race, which in turn ensured that all teams started on wet rubber. Crutchlow opted for hards front and rear, and his decision was proved inspired. After winning here previous year, Lorenzo had the confidence to challenge Marquez, but it was the Repsol Honda rider who was 1-0 up when the day ended.
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Italian Andrea Iannone finished third, 0.631 back.
The victory was also a first for his LCR team.
The British star found himself in 10th position at the halfway point after he sustained a strong rhythm.
The race began on a full-wet track, but with the expectation of a flag-to-flag race with bike swaps to slick tires. I took the gamble [with the tyres].
“These tyres are very good, I like them and I improved my lap time and also the feeling”. The Doctor (who completed 60 laps) also had chance to use a new frame and a new swing-arm that were not available to his team-mate.
Rossi’s podium hopes were given a boost when Iannone’s front-tyre seemed to burst – which saw the Ducati rider slip down the grid and out of the top three, allowing Marquez to rise to third.
As he took to the track for the start of the qualifying he sat back and watched as Lorenzo went out and blitzed his own record, taking the provisional pole.
Behind Espargaro in P5 was Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing), who recovered from a hard FP3 for a great qualifying result.
Alex Marquez had a fantastic ride into fifth, as he converted his front-row start into a top-five finish.
Dani Pedrosa was down in 12th and Andrea Dovizioso retired. He rejoined on intermediates, but quit the race with six laps to go.
Scott Redding was in the hunt early on as Crutchlow fought through from 15th to go past Marquez at half distance. Marquez then chased down Barber and Iannone, and moved up to third. But Barbera repassed him, before a three-wide moment that saw Crutchlow jump to second as Redding fell back. “I nearly crashed at Turn 10 when I changed into sixth instead of fifth, but once I knew Valentino wasn’t coming – no one was coming for me – I just rode around and didn’t take risks”. The Spaniard beat 9-time world champion Valentino Rossi to the top 5, as the Italian completes row 2 in P6. But it took to the final lap for Marquez to make his move, even approaching a traffic jam, but this did not stop him.
Once he was ahead of Iannone, Crutchlow was able to eke out a lead and cross the line seven seconds clear of the recovering Rossi. As for the reigning MotoGP Champion, Lorenzo finished an unusual 17th.
But there was no stopping Crutchlow, who cruised to a dominant victory.
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In the closing laps the track was drying and chunks were seen flying off the tires of those with the softer option. Lorenzo trailed in 17th.
