Marc Marquez secured his fifth consecutive double victory weekend of the season in the Czech Republic last weekend, taking his tally up to 11 wins in the Saturday races out of 12 possible attempts.
However, Saturday’s Sprint race was marred yet again by several riders, including Marquez, having to cede positions during the race to alleviate some of the stress on the front tyres, which were falling out of the legal pressure ranges.
Fans were furious about the rule affecting another race since its introduction to the regulations during the 2023 season. Karun Chandhok also vented his annoyance at the rule, stating that it was ‘impossible to explain’ to his 6-year-old son, who was watching along.
After conceding the lead to Pedro Acosta due to a warning popping up on his Ducati‘s dashboard, Marquez went on to pass the 21-year-old for the win later on in the race.
There was a moment of uncertainty surrounding Marquez’s fifth straight Sprint race win, but it was later confirmed to be an issue with the electronics that flashed the warning despite the tyre pressures being within the legal range.
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Pecco Bagnaia showed his fury with the Ducati team after an electronics issue was found to be the cause
Pecco Bagnaia received the warning about the pressure of his front tyres before his team-mate, and was arguably affected the most by it. The Italian was running in second place at the time, behind Marquez, when the warning struck.
He was forced to slow down, losing several positions in the process. Bagnaia ended up finishing seventh in the Sprint, when a podium was well on the cards before he lifted off the accelerator.
In behind-the-scenes footage from Ducati’s INSIDE Ducati Lenovo Team series, Bagnaia is shown asking a team member if they are disqualified.
The team member confirmed that the 28-year-old isn’t under investigation, to which Bagnaia slammed his helmet down and replied, “I basically threw the race away because that message popped up, and I had to slow down.”
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Pecco Bagnaia later confirmed that the warning was an electronics issue with his Ducati GP25
Talking to journalists after the conclusion of the race, Bagnaia confirmed that the warning was in fact an electronics issue with his Ducati rather than an actual issue with the front tyre pressures.
The Italian said, “I finally managed to understand several things in the race, too. Following Marc, it’s true that after two or three laps he opened the gap, but I was fairly comfortable in second with a good gap over third place.
RiderPointsMarc Marquez381Alex Marquez261Francesco Bagnaia213Marco Bezzecchi156Fabio Di Giannantonio142
“I was able to ride well, but unfortunately, I had a problem with the electronics, rather than tyre pressure. On the dashboard, an alarm told me I wasn’t within the limit, but I was below.”
The result was a shame for Bagnaia, who is having a tough season trying to replicate what Marquez is doing on the same machinery. The Italian currently sits in third place in the riders’ championship, 168 points adrift of his championship-leading teammate.