Title contender’s brutal Brno exposed in Czech MotoGP rider ratings

It was another immaculate Marc Marquez performance at the Czech MotoGP but, for once, he was the only well-performing Ducati rider as other manufacturers excelled on the high-grip Brno circuit.

Marc Marquez - 10

No mistakes all weekend from Marc Marquez, none that were especially meaningful at least when you consider his Q2 crash made almost no impact on the races, and he once again managed a ridiculous tyre pressure scenario expertly to take the Sprint win.

That, plus a commanding performance in the grand prix on Sunday gets him a 10 this time and we’re sure he’ll enjoy his summer break for that – oh, his 120-point championship lead, too, for sure, but mostly a 10/10 in these ratings.

Marco Bezzecchi - 8.5

Marco Bezzecchi was solid in the sessions that mattered in Brno and less solid in the ones that didn’t.

Three crashes on the weekend appeared to indicate a lack of comfort for the Italian or could be expected to knock his confidence ahead of the races.

But he finished fourth and second – highly respectable, especially the latter and the manner he took that P2 with almost constant pressure from, first, Marc Marquez, and, second, Pedro Acosta.

It was also fairly redemptive after his Sachsenring blunder last weekend, and reminded Aprilia, if they needed reminding, that, yes, Jorge Martin is back from injury, but the Italian is also perfectly capable of delivering important results.

Pedro Acosta - 9

Weirdly, despite his first two podiums of the season coming in Brno, Pedro Acosta was almost overshadowed by Enea Bastianini in the KTM camp, purely for the size of the step Bastianini had taken: from nowhere to podium contender.

But it was a solid weekend for the Spanish rider, who felt KTM benefitted from the high grip of the newly resurfaced Brno.

Even if that’s the case, you have to ride the race, and Acosta did that brilliantly on both Saturday – when he didn’t let the weirdness going on around him affect his riding – and Sunday when he was able to show strong pace at the end to keep Francesco Bagnaia behind.

Francesco Bagnaia - 7.5

Saturday was really good for Bagnaia, in ways. A (somewhat fortuitous) pole position after coming through Q2, and the strongest first half of a Sprint he’s had all year.

The Sprint result went away for things out of his control, so it’s hard to criticise him for that.

Sunday, though, was quite underwhelming after that, as he simply lacked the pace in the first half of the race to go with Marquez, Bezzecchi, and Acosta, and was unable to catch Acosta at the end, when his pace was comparable with the second and third placed riders, to get himself on the podium.

Another frustrating weekend for Bagnaia, even if it wasn’t all through his lack of confidence or competitiveness this time.

Raul Fernandez - 8

He was completely outclassed by Marco Bezzecchi, of course, but Raul Fernandez was strong in Brno to finish in the top-five, his best result since Valencia 2023.

That was preceded by a second-row qualifying and a decent Sprint result in sixth, passing Bagnaia on the last lap.

All in all, a lot to be pleased about for the Spanish rider who has been under pressure to perform for most of the past season-and-a-half.

Fabio Quartararo - 7.5

Fabio Quartararo himself performed well in Brno, but even with a test beforehand Yamaha was unable to be competitive in Czechia.

His front row qualifying was very impressive, but he was unable to match the race pace of the European bikes.

Jorge Martin - 8

It had been a messy three months for Jorge Martin since Qatar, but he was great in Czechia.

Okay, his press conference on Thursday was a bit underwhelming when he said he didn’t feel the need to apologise to his team, and that he had no regrets for what had happened.

But, on-track, he was fantastic all weekend, and in wet and dry conditions which was notable.

Q2 on Friday was outstanding, Q2 itself was neither here nor there with P12, the Sprint was slightly concerning with a view to Sunday as he slipped to 12th, but Sunday was great, with pace in the 1:54s consistently and a seventh-place finish to go into the summer with.

Really little to be disappointed about for Martin in his return ride, and it was clear to see the support within Aprilia for him as he returned to the box after the race.

Brad Binder - 6

Poor qualifying for Brad Binder –  who was the worst of the KTM’s for most of the weekend, even worse than Maverick Vinales’ fill-in Pol Espargaro – but he was good in the races, coming back to the top-10 on both Saturday and Sunday.

It continues to be a frustrating season for the factory KTM rider, though, even as the RC16 appears to progress.

Pol Espargaro - 8

Two ninths for Pol Espargaro really is quite outstanding when you consider he only found out he was racing last week.

Normally from a fill-in or a wildcard you’re looking for an anonymous weekend with no crashes, but the Spanish rider was visible in Brno for all the right reasons.

It also says something about the Tech3 team and Vinales’ side of the box in particular that Espargaro was able to slot into it and perform so well so quickly.

Jack Miller - 6.5

Top-10 qualifying for Jack Miller and a top-10 in the race, but his late race pace suffered in Czechia and that was quite apparent when the TV director cut to him battling with Binder towards the end.

He beat Miguel Oliveira and Alex Rins, which is positive for the Australian but was out-classed by Quartararo.

If you consider Quartararo to be a unique talent and Miller’s performance to therefore be more indicative of the level of the YZR-M1, that would make a concerning reality for Yamaha.

Fermin Aldeguer - 5.5

Missing Q2 and missing the top-10 in both races is quite disappointing for Fermin Aldeguer, especially as he crossed the line in the top-10 on Sunday but was given a penalty for irresponsible riding which dropped him to 11th.

They’re forgivable results, though, for two reasons: Alex Marquez also struggled; and Aldeguer hadn’t been to Brno before this weekend.

He will probably be frustrated that his worst weekend since Argentina came in the last race before the summer break.

Luca Marini - 6.5

After Luca Marini’s Sachsenring sixth, it was a bit alarming to see him bottom of the times in Practice.

There was improvements in performance throughout the weekend, though, and finishing with a 12th in the race for the Italian in his second race back. He was also top-Honda, which counts for something, although we’ll come to Joan Mir later.

Johann Zarco - 6.5

Eighth in the Sprint was a decent result for Honda and Johann Zarco, and probably more representative of the RC213V’s potential in Brno than his 13th in the race, which was mostly induced by his optimistic choice of the soft-compound rear tyre with track temperatures over 40C.

Ai Ogura - 5

Quite an anonymous weekend for Ai Ogura. It was his third time at Brno but he’d only ridden it on a Moto3 bike before and that was five years ago.

Still, he was completely out-classed by all the other Aprilia riders, and fellow rookie Fermin Aldeguer.

Alex Rins - 3

Beaten by both his teammate and Jack Miller in both races, and in qualifying, it was another tough weekend for Alex Rins as rumours begin to swirl about him being replaced by Miller for 2026.

Fabio Di Giannantonio - 1

Fabio Di Giannantonio had an awful weekend in Brno, missing Q2, crashing in the Sprint, and down in 16th in the grand prix.

It’s difficult to say if it was a VR46 issue because Franco Morbidelli was not there, but it’s hard to say it was a GP25 issue because Marc Marquez won the race and Francesco Bagnaia – who Di Giannantonio has been better than in two of the last three races – was fourth.

So, 16th. A bit of a disaster for the Italian.

Marquez did mention how Ducati was suffering with front push in the high-grip conditions, and perhaps this was the cause of Di Giannantonio’s poor performance.

Miguel Oliveira - 4

A disappointing race result after a Sprint in which he was ahead of Rins and only 0.7 seconds behind Miller for Miguel Oliveira in 17th.

He lost two seconds and number of positions, dropping from 13th to 18th, when Aldeguer passed him (it was for this that Aldeguer was penalised), but he was also unable to recover any of those positions in the 15 laps that remained in the race after the incident.

Augusto Fernandez - 3

Augusto Fernandez had the kind of weekend you don’t look for from a wildcard rider, because the only time he was notable was when he wiped out Takaaki Nakagami in the Sprint, which resulted in a knee injury for the Japanese rider (who was riding in place of Somkiat Chantra at LCR) who was forced to miss the grand prix.

Enea Bastianini - 7

A crash for Enea Bastianini but it was his best weekend on the KTM by far and a very solid podium finish in the Sprint.

The guy was forced out of the Germany weekend through illness a week ago, so quite the turnaround, really.

It must be painful for Maverick Vinales, though, given how strong he’s been all season, before his Sachsenring injury, without taking a podium.

Joan Mir - N/A

It’s not possible to give Joan Mir a score this weekend.

He complained about his tyre on Saturday, which you would ordinarily think ‘Okay, sure,’ but his description of the issue was basically the same as Bagnaia’s in Emilia-Romagna last year, which gives validity to his description.

So, that was unfortunate.

He went wide in the Sprint to avoid Johann Zarco – also unfortunate, if something more avoidable than problematic tyre characteristics.

And in the race he was wiped out by Alex Marquez, who has been rock solid all season but made such a mess of his pass attempt on lap two at turn 12.

After a really good qualifying in P5, it’s hard to feel much other than sympathy for Mir, who has been taken out twice in two weeks.

Alex Marquez - 3

No points in Brno for Alex Marquez would be bad in any context but in the context of his 2025 is quite disastrous.

In previous years, he was just another MotoGP rider; this year he’s the second best rider in the world, and now he’s 120 points behind in the championship and 48 points ahead of third.

Not only that, but his route to both of those non-scores involved contact with other riders.

The first was with his teammate, Fermin Aldeguer, in the Sprint, which, even though none of them went down, feels fairly clumsy, especially on the first lap.

Contact number two was with Joan Mir in the Sunday race with the aforementioned mess of an overtake attempt at turn 12.

Mir was an unfortunate victim for Marquez, too, since he took Mir out of the Japanese Grand Prix last year, too.

Overall, quite a terrible weekend for Alex Marquez, but really it’s been his first bad weekend of the year, which is not bad, generally speaking. In any case, he is one rider for whom the summer break is coming at probably the right moment, especially with his still-healing metacarpal.