2019 Moto3 Czech Grand Prix Preview

After a break, Moto3 returns to action at Brno in the Czech Republic.

The top two

Italian, Lorenzo Dalla Porta is the current championship leader having managed to cut and overtake Aron Canet in the standings over the last two rounds before the break.

It leaves the top two close together with only two points separating Dalla Porta and Canet ahead of the Czech Grand Prix.

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They have achieved five podium finishes each so far this season with Dalla Porta’s consisting of a win and four second places while Canet has achieved a victory, one second place and three third places.

Also of note is that Dalla Porta has retired once so far in 2019 while Canet hasn’t failed to finish outside of the points in any of the races so far this season.

Behind the top two

There is a big gap however between second and third, currently at thirty six points between Canet and Niccolo Antonelli.

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Antonelli leads a group of three riders separated by just ten points, the other two being Marcos Ramirez and Tony Arbolino, all three of them on Honda bikes and all three of them having achieved race victories in 2019.

In total there have been eight different race winners so far in the 2019 season across the nine races that have been contested with Arbolino the rider to have more than one race victory. What has stopped him from being higher up in the standings are four zero point races, the highest number of the top five riders in the championship.

Home heroes

Czech rider, Jakub Kornfeil enters his home race on a solid run of form having scored points in the last six races, the third longest active streak in the Moto3 field behind Canet and John McPhee.

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Also racing in front of his home crowd will be Filip Salac who is a rookie in Moto3 and achieved his best result of the season in the previous round in Germany, a thirteenth place finish.

Rookies

Salac is one of eight rookies competing in the full Moto3 season in 2019.

Celestino Vietti is currently the highest placed rookie in seventh, twenty two points ahead of the next best, Ai Ogura who is in twelfth place.

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Vietti’s best result so far in 2019 has been third which he achieved at the Spanish and Catalan Grand Prix, while Ogura’s best result has been sixth which he achieved in Catalunya and then repeated in the following race at Assen.

Another rookie of note is Can Oncu who amazed in his wildcard appearance at the 2018 Valencian Grand Prix by winning the race. He has had a difficult full season however in 2019 having only finished inside the points once, a fourteenth place finish in Germany.