Seven-time MotoGP titleholder Marc Marquez secured the win at the Czech Grand Prix held in Brno on Sunday. This success marked his second straight victory after a commanding performance in Hungary a fortnight ago.

Japanese rider Ai Ogura started from pole and crossed the line in second place, with Marquez's factory Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia finishing third.

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi missed the event due to a penalty for striking a track official after a crash during Saturday's sprint race.

Nevertheless the Italian on a factory Aprilia maintains the lead in the MotoGP standings with 180 points, followed by teammate Jorge Martin on 172, Fabio Di Giannantonio on a Ducati with 157 and Marc Marquez with 140.

Under intense heat in Brno, pole sitter Ogura on an Aprilia grabbed the early lead on lap one, with Bagnaia and Marquez close behind.

Bagnaia overtook first on lap two and Marquez followed soon after, allowing the two factory Ducatis to pull ahead while Ogura held third.

Marquez waited patiently behind Bagnaia and reduced the gap to a tenth of a second by lap 11 of the 21-lap contest.

The seven-time champion passed Bagnaia on lap 16 and quickly built a lead to claim his fifth MotoGP win at the Brno circuit.

Shortly afterward Bagnaia also yielded to pressure from Ogura.

Ogura closed on Marquez in the closing stages but had to settle for second, while Bagnaia kept fourth ahead of Di Giannantonio.

The same trio had led Saturday's sprint, which Bagnaia won ahead of Ogura and Marquez.

"A super important victory," Marquez said. "Super happy."

'A tough one'

Marquez returned to action in Hungary after missing two Grands Prix with a broken foot and had conceded before Brno that he was not fully recovered.

"You know that I never give up, in the last laps I was suffering a lot. The bike was there but I was empty and then I just tried to keep the pace," said the 33-year-old Spaniard.

"I saw that Ogura was pushing, but not enough to catch me. They were the longest six laps of the year," he added.

Ogura described the race as "a really tough one."

"I think I got a good pace towards the end but he (Marquez) has something more," the 25-year-old Trackhouse MotoGP Team rider said.

"Overall the quality of the weekend was a lot better than the other races so we can be happy about that. Time to celebrate!"

Bagnaia, the 2022 and 2023 world champion, admitted he struggled to stay with Marquez and Ogura once passed.

"I needed to slow down a bit and then the last three laps I tried to be back on my pace to try to control (Di Giannantonio) who was arriving very fast," the 29-year-old Italian added.

It proved a difficult weekend for Aprilia Racing as Bezzecchi's ban was compounded by Martin's ninth-place finish after two long-lap penalties for causing a crash in Hungary that eliminated four riders including Bezzecchi.

The MotoGP series has two rounds left before the summer break and resumes in the Netherlands next weekend.

Earlier on Sunday Spain's Ivan Ortola claimed his first Moto2 victory despite a long-lap penalty, while Malaysia's Hakim Danish celebrated his maiden Moto3 win.