MotoGP 2015: Jorge Lorenzo wins Czech Republic Grand Prix to take points lead from Valentino Rossi

JORGE Lorenzo sent a firm message to his championship rivals in the Czech Republic MotoGP: if you want to win the title, you will have to catch him first.

JORGE Lorenzo sent a firm message to his championship rivals in the Czech Republic MotoGP: if you want to win the title, you will have to catch him first.

The Spaniard dominated every lap of the race, taking his first win at Brno since 2010 to move into the equal championship lead with Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi.

Rossi could do no better than finish a distant third behind Lorenzo and Marc Marquez, losing the points lead for the first time this season on a countback by dint of Lorenzo’s five wins to Rossi’s three.

RESULTS: Click here for the race results from the Czech GP at Brno

Lorenzo and Marquez shot away when the red lights went out, a sluggish start from Rossi squandering his front-row grid spot to be trapped behind a fast-starting Bradley Smith and Andrea Dovizioso.

He lost three laps making his way past the pair, and by the time he moved into third place the leaders were already over two seconds up the road.

Lorenzo and Marquez lead into the stadium

As at Indy, Marquez clung to Lorenzo’s coat tails for several laps, hoping his decision to use a harder rear tyre would again allow him to strike in the closing laps.

Instead, Lorenzo put the hammer down. Making the most of his grippier medium compound Bridgestones, he began to extend his lead with Honda’s reigning world champion powerless to respond.

By the chequered flag, Lorenzo was 4.4 seconds ahead of Marquez with Rossi a further 5.9 seconds away in third, his decision to use a harder front and rear tyre failing to pay dividends.

Worse still for his rivals, Lorenzo had speed to spare.

“I didn‘t need to push at the end, so this was not a perfect race, because I could have been a little bit faster,” he said.

“I expected the race to be a little bit quicker at the beginning and to be riding 1m55.9s, but with a full fuel tank, and also after the Moto2 the track seemed to have a little less grip, it was not possible.

“Luckily for me after a few laps I started to brake better with less fuel in the tank and enter corners faster than before.

Lorenzo began to edge away from Marquez mid race.

“I improved my times only by one tenth of a second, but it gave me a 0.6s advantage in one lap and that went up to one second and I was able to get away little by little and win the race.”

Andrea Iannone was best of the rest in fourth, while Dani Pedrosa fought off Dovizioso to pip the Ducati to the line for fifth place.

Smith, his Tech3 Yamaha teammate Pol Espargaro, brother Aleix Espargaro and Danilo Petrucci rounded out the top 10.

Australia’s Jack Miller endured a difficult race.

The LCR Honda rider made steady progress in the opening laps until Eugene Laverty crashed in front of him.

The delay dropped him off the tail of the group that would end up fighting over the final championship point for 15th, holding down 19th position at the finish.

Miller’s teammate Cal Crutchlow crashed out with eight laps remaining after losing the front end on the entry to Turn 11, while an almost identical crash saw Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales slide out of the race at the same spot a lap later.

On current form, it is now looking like Lorenzo’s title to lose.

He and Rossi are now tied on 211 points apiece, but Rossi has only managed to beat Lorenzo just twice over the last eight races.

Marquez’s second placing sees him inch closer to the Yamaha duo in the standings, gaining four points to sit 52 points arrears in third place.

The next round of the MotoGP world championship is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on August 30.

Lorenzo celebrates with his signature podium leap.

Originally published as MotoGP 2015: Jorge Lorenzo wins Czech Republic Grand Prix to take points lead from Valentino Rossi