Much like the rest of the weekend, conditions were punishing for Sunday’s 21-lap race at the Brno Circuit as track temperatures hit 47 degrees by 14:00 when the MotoGP™ race got underway. 

Launching from two places higher than qualifying due to one rider's injury and another's penalty, Bastianini started well to finish the lap in P15, a place behind Viñales, who had a strong start but was then penalised by contact with another rider in the first corners.

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 team-mates were soon caught up in an entertaining duel for tenth position, which included Franco Morbidelli, Luca Marini, Jorge Martin and Brad Binder. The task was all the more difficult as the red-hot temperatures meant front tyre pressure was critical. Overtaking therefore became very difficult. 

Nevertheless, ‘La Bestia’ still found a way. Even if he was struggling with the front end, the Italian passed Morbidelli bravely on lap 13 for twelfth. A retirement for another rider and a brilliant late attack on Diogo Moreira was enough for tenth place – a solid effort after a tricky qualifying on Saturday. 

It was another important race in Viñales’ recovery. After making big improvements with the strength of his shoulder this weekend, ‘Top Gun’ was still lacking physical endurance and admitted to lacking energy as the race progressed. Finding it difficult to recover from a tricky start, he rode solidly to 15th. 

There’s little time to rest for Bastianini and Viñales. They’ll be back in action in five days’ time at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands hosted at the iconic TT Circuit Assen from 26-28 June.

Enea Bastianini: “It was a very tough race, very hot, and when you're behind too many bikes you're in a critical condition because you can't make your line. Every lap I got a bit more comfortable, and at the end it was possible to push a little more.

"Our limit today was the front. I think I saved the front from closing maybe five or six times, that was crazy. I tried to stay close to Martin, but I wasn't comfortable in that part of the race and at the end I was close, but it was too risky to push for it today.

"When we're close to other bikes the rear degrades worse, and the front is on the edge when we take the corners. Yesterday was better, and it's important to understand why today wasn't the same. Next week it's not going to get easier as it'll be 34 degrees again in Assen. It's difficult, but we stay positive.”

Maverick Viñales: “It was a tough, exhausting weekend physically, especially in this heat, but that's a good way to keep building up strength for the season. Already on Saturday I was completely fatigued and then the race was so long today, it’s been hard. But there are clear positives to take from the weekend, even if the race itself didn't go the way we wanted.

"I had a strong start today and the first corner was good, but then I had some contact and there was some damage to the bike. After that the flow of the race was much harder. The track temperature was so high today, it made it so slippery with the tyres and I struggled a lot. I’ve felt less comfortable on the bike as the weekend has progressed, so this is something we need to look at and try to make changes before next weekend. Now we head to Assen, one of the hardest tracks on the calendar, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “Well, that's another satisfying result for Enea here in Czechia. He started from P15 and ended up inside the top 10 without too much drama, so it's a satisfying result. But if we look deeply at the race, Enea's pace wasn't that fast, and this is really something that we have to look at, especially on a circuit where he was strong last year. So, we don't really understand why we're struggling more this year than last year.

"On Maverick's side, it's only one point today, we are a bit disappointed. We all expected a little bit more from him. He showed a really strong Friday to start the weekend with, and we'd had some hope for this race, but unfortunately his struggle in the race was more than expected. So, for him as well, we have to understand why, and we have to go over the whole weekend and quickly get to a conclusion for the next race, which will be next week in Assen.”