Marc Marquez will look to make it three wins in a row when the Repsol Honda rider lines up for the Austrian MotoGP round on Sunday, writes Roddy Brooks.
The Spaniard backed up his win in Germany with victory in the Czech Republic last time out and is now clear odds-on favourite to win the title.
Making it three wins on the bounce by taking the honours at the Red Bull Ring would put Marquez in a very strong position.
In the Austrian MotoGP betting, Marquez is 5/2 to take the chequered flag, with Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso favourite at 2/1.
Marquez’s fellow Spaniard and Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa looks good value at 14/1 after finishing second last time out, while Movistar Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales are both well priced for the win at 6/1 and 7/1 respectively.
KTM duo Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith will be keen to do well at the Austrian manufacturer’s home round but are both realistically priced at 500/1.
How the Czech Grand Prix finished
1 Marc Marquez (Honda), 2 Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 3 Maverick Vinales (Yamaha), 4 Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 5 Cal Crutchlow (Honda), 6 Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), 7 Danilo Petrucci (Ducati), 8 Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), 9 Pol Espargaro (KTM), 10 Jonas Folger (Yamaha), 11 Alex Rins (Suzuki), 12 Johann Zarco (Yamaha), 13 Karel Abraham (Ducati), 14 Jack Miller (Honda), 15 Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati), 16 Scott Redding (Ducati), 17 Tito Rabat (Honda), 18 Sam Lowes (Aprilia), 19 Andrea Iannone (Suzuki), 20 Hector Barbera (Ducati), DNF Bradley Smith (KTM), Loris Baz (Ducati), Alvaro Bautista (Ducati).
Marquez’s gamble to switch to slick tyres before the rest of the pack paid dividends with a second successive victory in the rain-hit Czech Grand Prix at Brno.
The Spaniard led home a Respol Honda one-two from team-mate Pedrosa to increase his lead at the top of the standings to 14 points over fellow Spaniard Vinales.
The Movistar Yamaha rider finished in front of team-mate Rossi, whose hopes of winning a 10th world title continued to fade after the early-season flourish which had taken him to the top of the standings at one point.
There was no repeat win at Brno for Cal Crutchlow, who could only claim fifth place on the LCR Honda on a track where he claimed victory last season.
The Ducati duo of Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci claimed sixth and seventh and Aleix Espargaro’s impressive debut season for Aprilia continued as he took eighth place, one position ahead of brother Pol who seems to have come to terms with the factory KTM.
Jorge Lorenzo’s woes continued as the former Yamaha rider could only claim 15th place on the factory Ducati despite leading the race in the early stages before the track dried out.
Past Austrian Grand Prix results
2016: Andrea Iannone (Ducati)
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