Juanfran Guevara just outside the points in close Brno race

Probably nobody imagined yesterday, after the strange and interrupted qualifying session, that today at Brno the Moto3 race would be so wild. Sixteen riders crossed the finish line less than two seconds apart.

Sixteen riders fought incessantly in the leading group, with contact included on some near-impossible overtaking moves during the nineteen-lap Czech Republic round. The race pace was slow (the fastest lap was 2.08.064) compared to the pole time yesterday of 2.07.691.

The lead changed hands frequently and it was almost impossible to predict a victor, but the packed nature of the race led to confusion as Rins celebrated prematurely with a lap remaining. After that mistake, Marquez and Miller seemed to be the main candidates for victory, before Masbou snuck ahead for a first Grand Prix win of his career. Bastianini and Kent accompanied him on a rare rostrum featuring no Spanish riders.

MAPFRE Aspar rider Juanfran Guevara’s first lap gave little indication that he would be fighting as part of the lead group. After an incident with a rival rider, he dropped five places on the opening lap.

However, today Guevara was determined to continue fighting and learning amongst the best, as he did at the previous round. On Lap 2 he set his personal fastest lap –at that point the best of any rider and eventually the fifth quickest of the Brno race. That put him back in contact with the lead group, with whom he battled until the chequered flag.

A thrilling finale ended with him taking sixteenth place, just missing out on the points, and finishing 1.9 seconds down on the race winner.

16th Juanfran Guevara:
“On the third corner of the first lap I was knocked off the line, I couldn’t take the corner well and several riders passed me. However, I regained my composure immediately and knew that I had to make up positions in any way possible so that those ahead wouldn’t escape. On the first five or six laps I set a fast pace, in fact on one of them I put in the fastest lap. At the start of the race I felt very comfortable and capable of pushing on the bike. Today I was also even faster than in qualifying. At the end I was fighting at the back of the lead group, with many other riders around me. I had to fight hard throughout the race. It’s a shame that my third gear kept on skipping at various points, which made me lose touch with the other riders on the straights. Despite this small drawback, the positive is that we have completed another race as part of the leading group.”

Source: Aspar Media