Brno will remain the Austrian Waterloo in MotoGP. A dreary plain where his troops, already hard hit during the German campaign, were decimated in Moravia. In summary, KTM only has the only driver left Bradley Smith valid one week before his national meeting on his Red Bull Ring route, in front of his Austrian compatriots. And while there is still so much to do on the RC16…
And again, it could have been much worse since the Englishman, whose contract will not be renewed, found himself in a three-way clash with Vinales and Bradl. He could therefore have just as easily injured himself, after the ligaments of a knee Rock and the broken collarbone of Pol Espargaro after a fall during the warm-up of the Czech Republic Grand Prix.
Faced with this field of ruin, the team manager Mike Leitner has difficulty finding words: “ it's a disaster, this Czech Sunday was the worst day of our entire MotoGP project. The only positive thing is that Bradley didn't get injured ". Certainly, but here he alone bears the entire burden of developing the bike at the same time as doing the season. Which will inevitably lead to delays in the RC16 program…
« We brought two engine specifications that we used in practice and qualifying. But we returned to a version better known for racing because we encountered electrical problems » explains the same Leitner on Motorsport. " As Kallio is unavailable, development also takes place during the Grands Prix. And of course, not everything works the first time. ».
« All this makes our lives more difficult » concludes the Austrian who specifies: “ there is a 99% chance that you will be in Austria with a motorbike. We will not replace Pol Espargaro if he withdraws. You can't find a rider on the street corner to ride this type of motorcycle, and those who are able to do so have contracts ". It will be recalled that KTM made an offer to Pedrosa to be his test driver in 2019…
Grand Prix of the Czech Republic Brno MotoGP J.3: classification.
| 1 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 41'07.728 |
| 2 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | +0.178 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | +0.368 |
| 4 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | +2.902 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | +2.958 |
| 6 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | +3.768 |
| 7 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | +6.159 |
| 8 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | +7.479 |
| 9 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | +7.575 |
| 10 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | +8.326 |
| 11 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | +8.653 |
| 12 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | +16.549 |
| 13 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | +19.603 |
| 14 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | +21.381 |
| 15 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | +23.159 |
| 16 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | +27.673 |
| 17 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | +28.311 |
| 18 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | +41.172 |
| 19 | 50 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Suzuki | +42.411 |
| 20 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | +50.941 |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 13 lapses | |
| 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 16 lapses | |
| 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 20 lapses | |
| Not Finished 1st Lap | ||||
| 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 0 laps | |
| 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 0 laps |
