Jorge Martin takes excellent 11th at Bnro, Juanfran Guevara close behind in 14th

The Moto3 race at Brno had barely started when the red flag came out on the first lap following a crash for four riders in the first corner and then four more in turn three.

Half an hour later the race was restarted, cut from nineteen laps to twelve, and even though there was another pile-up this time it was not interrupted.

However, it did allow a group of eleven riders to open a gap of two seconds over the rest of the field, with Niccolo Antonelli coming out on top of an intense battle for the win that saw Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder also finish on the podium.

Behind them all three MAPFRE Team Mahindra riders finished in the points together for the first time this season after leading the second group home.

Jorge Martín, Pecco Bagnaia and Juanfran Guevara lost ground on the leaders after the crash in the restarted race and despite setting an identical pace to the front men throughout the race they were never able to recover the lost ground.

However, it was a satisfactory finish to the weekend for the trio, with Martín scoring points for the third straight race, Bagnaia rediscovering his form after making a set-up breakthrough this morning and Guevara now putting the bad luck and injuries that hampered the first half of his season firmly behind him.

11th Jorge Martín:
“The first start was really good, I was up to twelfth and ready to make some passes but then the red flag came out and we had to do it all over again. I tried to do the same thing in the restart but I got passed by a few riders and dropped back. By the time I got back to the front of my group the leaders had escaped. I tried to close the gap back to them but got involved in a battle with another rider and we tripped each other up. It would have been nice to be fighting for the podium because I think we had the pace today. In general I am happy because we have improved here, I won the battle in the group I was in and we have taken a top ten finish, which is important. Hopefully we can continue to improve and get a better result next time. Juanfran and I came together at the end but as far as I’m concerned there’s no problem.”

14th Juanfran Guevara:
“We got a good start in the first race and I was in a good position but the second race didn’t go so well. We went for the softer tyre, which we had left over from yesterday, because we thought it could go the distance but it didn’t. I was leading the three of us at the end but I touched with Jorge and luckily we both stayed upright. The important thing was that all three of us scored points today and our pace was the same as the guys at the front. It is a shame that the crash early in the race caused a split in the group but we have done a good job this weekend and made some positive changes to the bike, which is now starting to work how I want. We had a tough first half of the season but the second half is already improving.”