Hakim Danish takes his first win in Brno. The win marks the first win for a Malaysian rider in 10 years. He was joined on the podium by Brian Uriarte, in second, and Máximo Quiles, in third.
For much of the weekend, there was a divide in the grid due to differences in riders’ paces. Due to the nature of the circuit, the battle for the win was among six riders for most of the race.
Danish Fastest on Friday
Danish couldn’t be topped on Friday, topping both morning and afternoon sessions. David Almansa and Quiles were just behind in pace. The grid was more spread out than usual for Moto3, with the top nine covered by a second and the whole field covered by two.
It is also worth mentioning that David Muñoz is out with an injury this weekend. The crash at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix left him with a broken pelvis; he will be out of racing for a while. Marcos Uriarte takes his place for the weekend.
The morning session kicked off the riders’ race weekend. As always, the morning session is important for finding the setup for the weekend and allowing the rookies to learn the circuit. There were a couple of crashes within the session, including this big one for Matteo Bertelle, who luckily walked away.
Overall, the session was uneventful, with riders figuring out the technical Brno circuit. However, Danish seemed to find the groove easily, setting a new lap record in the morning session at 2:04.938.
The warm afternoon session came around with all the riders fighting for a top 14 spot to get straight into Q2.
In this session, riders were pushing the limits, with many more riders running wide and crashing. There were big crashes for Marco Morelli, Joel Esteban, and Casey O’Gorman in the session. There were also a lot of battles with some riders thinking it was race day.
But even with all the drama, Danish’s dominance continued to top the session; he set another new lap record at 2:04.754. The only rider that seemed to be able to get near him was Almansa, who was 0.1 seconds away.
There was some drama in the session with Eddie O’Shea being disqualified from the session for being underweight. As a result, he lost his automatic promotion to Q2.
Practice Top 10:
P1: #13 Hakim Danish 2:04.754
P2: #22 David Almansa +0.190
P3: #28 Máximo Quiles +0.259
P4: #83 Álvaro Carpe +0.287
P5: #78 Joel Esteban +0.375
P6: #19 Scott Ogden +0.395
P7: #57 Brian Uriarte +0.813
P8: #54 Jesús Ríos +0.910
P9: #27 Rico Salmela +0.967
P10: #73 Valentín Perrone +1.007
Almansa clinches Pole
Almansa managed to stop Danish’s dominance in qualifying, taking pole over the Malaysian rider by 0.017 seconds. Quiles joined them in P3 to complete the front row; however, he was 0.4 seconds behind the front two.
Qualifying starts with Q1, with the top four from this session advancing to Q2. The promotion to Q2 can really make or break your weekend.
The first runs in Q1 saw Adrián Fernández and Morelli setting the fastest laps, yet the field was very close. With two minutes left, Cormac Buchanan crashed but got back onto the circuit quickly. Morelli then pitted, thinking that no one would be able to beat his time.
However, three riders went faster than Morelli, pushing him out of Q2 progression. The riders who did progress were M. Uriarte, O’Gorman, O’Shea, and Fernández.
Going into Q2, it was expected to be between Almansa and Danish with the pace they had shown all weekend; anything can happen in racing, so it wasn’t confirmed yet.
In the first run, it was Quiles who went the fastest out of everyone. However, during the second run, Quiles had an issue with his bike and could not defend his time. He did manage to keep third position on the grid, but he will be disappointed thinking about what he could have had.
By the end, it was Almansa who found the best pace out of everyone. His lap was yet another lap record, at 2:04.069.
Qualifying Top 10:
P1: #22 David Almansa 2:04.069
P2: #13 Hakim Danish +0.017
P3: #28 Máximo Quiles +0.421
P4: #83 Álvaro Carpe +0.565
P5: #51 Brian Uriarte +0.574
P6: #8 Eddie O’Shea +1.071
P7: #19 Scott Ogden +1.110
P8: #9 Veda Pratama +1.201
P9: #66 Joel Kelso +1.371
P10: #67 Casey O’Gorman +1.371
Danish Wins after Grid Penalty
Danish completes a near-perfect weekend with his first win in the class. He managed to judge
Going into Sunday, many penalties were handed out. Four riders got 12-place grid penalties for slow laps in qualifying. The riders involved were Guido Pini, now starting 24th; Rico Salmela, starting 26th; Veda Pratama, starting 20th; and, most notably, Danish, starting 14th. Leo Rammerstorfer and Ruché Moodley also received long lap penalties during the race.
With the grid now sorted, the race got underway, with Quiles taking the lead on the first corner.
People such as O’Shea, O’Gorman, and Danish got great starts and were getting involved with the battle for the lead. There was an early crash for Esteban, who fell heavily on Lap 3. He eventually got back on his feet and walked away.
The race started spreading out, and by lap 5, it was a battle of seven for the lead. The battle of seven soon turned to six with a highside for O’Gorman. This was his second crash of the weekend; he will be feeling sore ahead of the next round.
The battle commenced in the top 6, with everyone fighting for position. The overtakes didn’t feel as aggressive as Moto3 sometimes becomes, so it was clear that they were trying to conserve their pace for the end of the race.
The battle raged on for the last six laps of the race. Riders were going onto the grass, sharing paint from each other’s bikes; there was nothing to separate them. Going onto the last lap, it was still all to play for. Contact between B. Uriarte and Quiles allowed Danish to get underneath them both and into the lead.
Danish managed to keep his head down and win the Moto3 Czechia Grand Prix—the battle behind led to the second place going to B. Uriarte and third for Quiles.
Top Three Post Race Quotes:
“I know everyone in Malaysia is so happy, me too with my first victory.” – Hakim Danish
“Brno is one of the most difficult tracks on the calendar for me but each session I improved.” – Brian Uriarte
“I was trying to push to open gap so I didn’t have the crazy battle but I couldn’t.” – Máximo Quiles
Race Top 10:
P1: #13 Hakim Danish
P2: #51 Brian Uriarte +0.466
P3: #28 Máximo Quiles +0.629
P4: #22 David Almansa +0.741
P5: #9 Veda Pratama +0.900
P6: #83 Álvaro Carpe +0.906
P7: #97 Marco Morelli +10.724
P8: #66 Joel Kelso +10.925
P9: #19 Scott Ogden +11.080
P10: #73 Valentín Perrone +11.394
The next race will be the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen, 26th-28th June.