Alex Rins manages the perfect final corner to claim Marc Marquez’s victory in British MotoGP.
Alex Rins showed the perfect attack on the last corner to wrest Marc Marquez victory in the British MotoGP.
In a thrilling encounter at Silverstone during the 20 lap race, Marquez maintained his Suzuki rival’s measure while Rins struggled to find a way on the Repsol Honda rider.
Rins knew he couldn’t hold the lead on a long straight at Silverstone due to the Honda’s phenomenal acceleration and top speed.
Marquez, who struggled late with tire wear, also suffered a rear tire slip to lose vital momentum, allowing Rins to claim victory in 0.013 seconds – the second straight race the reigning MotoGP World Champion lost on the final corner has.
Although he has to be content with second place, Marquez extends his lead in the championship to a dominant 78 points after a catastrophic start by Quartararo and Dovizioso.
The MotoGP rookie fell at the exit of the first corner, possibly unsettled by an out-of-seat moment for Rins directly in front of him, with the hapless Dovizioso, who was picked up by the Frenchman’s Petronas Yamaha on the outside of the corner.
Dovizioso was distracted from the track and taken to the medical center while his Ducati caught fire with a full fuel tank when Quartararo looked dejected knowing he’d missed his best chance of winning his first season in the premier class.
Without Quartararo and Dovizioso in the race, Marquez and Rins began their race-long battle of victory that would last until the last corner.
Behind the two front runners, despite his strong late race pace, Maverick Vinales ran out of laps to catch up with the leaders, which meant he had to finish third for Monster Yamaha, six tenths of a second behind.
Valentino Rossi suffered a fade during the race after falling behind his Yamaha teammate, which meant he had to settle for fourth place, over 10 seconds behind the finish line.
Franco Morbidelli equalized his best result in MotoGP career with fifth place comfortably ahead of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, who fought off a late attack by Danilo Petrucci on the factory Ducati.
Jack Miller finished eighth on the Pramac Ducati, Pol Espargaro secured his best result for Red Bull KTM since Mugello with ninth.
Andrea Iannone was another to set his season best with 10th place for Aprilia ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati), Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) and Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3).
Jorge Lorenzo fought his way through injury comeback for Repsol Honda and finished 14th, while Karel Abraham completed the points for Avintia Ducati.
Tito Rabat rose again after a fall on lap 6, finishing 16th for Avintia Ducati, while Takaaki Nakagami was another fall that rose again and finished 17th.
Aleix Espargaro suffered a heartbreaking late mistake for Aprilia with one lap to go, while Miguel Oliveira and Johann Zarco met on lap 10, which took both drivers out of the race.