Toni Elias stretched his Moto2 championship lead by escaping from the pack to win his fourth race of the season at Brno. The Gresini rider emerged on top after a long battle with Andrea Iannone and Roby Rolfo, the latter eventually retiring, and Iannone dropping back to third behind the charging Yuki Takahashi.
The early stages had seen a remarkable battle for the lead, with 21 riders within five seconds of each other and regularly three and four abreast during the opening five laps. But once Iannone hit the front, he began to edge away from the pack – as he has done on so many occasions this year. Keen not to let the Italian get away, Elias took second from Jules Cluzel and quickly hunted down Iannone, bringing Rolfo with him.
After several attempts and a series of side by side place exchanges, Elias managed to get through into the lead on lap 14, with Rolfo immediately passing Iannone as well. Rolfo then attacked Elias for the lead, getting through briefly when the ex-MotoGP man slid wide at the first corner. But Elias reclaimed first place within half a lap, and next time around Rolfo's bike suddenly slowed, ending his challenge for a first Moto2 win.
That left Elias free to win by 2.3sec, while Iannone suddenly had his hands full with the flying Takahashi, who had passed a slowing Cluzel with a neat around the outside move shortly beforehand. The Japanese rider took advantage of a slight slip under braking by Iannone to dive through and claim the runner-up spot.
Cluzel resisted Julian Simon, Gabor Talmacsi and Alex Debon – the latter one of several men who had led in the early shuffles – to take fourth.