Spain’s Marc Marquez is one step from wiping out a long-standing record as he eyes his 11th victory in as many races this season at the Czech MotoGP in Brno on Sunday.
Italy’s Giacomo Agostini won the opening 10 races in 1968, 1969 and 1970 at a time when he dominated the sport.
Marquez, the reigning champion, equalled that feat at Indianapolis last Sunday, when he also became the first rider since Australian Mick Doohan in 1997 to win 10 races in a row at any point in the season.
No racer has ever won the first 11 events of a season – in part because Agostini’s perfect season in 1968 consisted of only 10 races.
Marquez, 21, last year won the Brno race to become the first MotoGP rookie ever to win four successive premier-class events.
“The target is to fight for victory, like always,” he said about the race on the 5.4-kilometre circuit in the southern Czech city.
The weather might be an issue at Brno since forecasts call for rain over parts of the weekend. That might suit the experienced Yamaha duo of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, who trail Marquez in the championship standings. With eight events left, Marquez stands on 250 points, 89 better than his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. Rossi is four points behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo 40 points behind Rossi.
“Everyone knows that historically, Yamaha are strong here, so we’ll have to work hard from Friday to give ourselves the best chance on Sunday,” Marquez told the crash.net website.
Meanwhile, Rossi, who has won five premier-class races at Brno, called the local track “fantastic.”
“But in the last years, I never did a good performance there,” he said. “We have to concentrate, study corner by corner every practice, try to do the maximum.”
Agostini said history is in the making.
“I think [Marquez] is capable of winning every race,” the 72-year-old told the Italian sports daily Gazetta dello Sport. “It would be an incredible record, not just for him, but also for the manufacturer, because if the bike doesn’t get you to the finish line the rest is pointless.”
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