MotoGP: Marquez-Lorenzo Fight To The Finish At British Grand Prix

Jorge Lorenzo pulled the number 99 Movistar Yamaha out in front to lead the early laps of the British Grand Prix and steadily increased his distance from the pack. By mid race, there was only one other competitor that was within striking distance: the familiar number 93 Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez. With 10 laps remaining, Marquez was clearly stalking his prey and waiting for the right moment to challenge Lorenzo. The leaders consisted of Lorenzo and Marquez extending their one-two pace, while nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovisioso were in a heated contest for third. Marquez had the pace to catch Lorenzo, but made two slight errors, giving Lorenzo the opportunity to retake the lead twice.

With the top five leaders nearly 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack, Marquez took the lead with seven laps remaining but Lorenzo came back two laps later to retake the lead. Lorenzo appeared to pull ahead of Marquez but then, with three laps to go, Marquez moved in for the kill and the two made contact as the lead changed once again with the Repsol Honda coming out in front. Two laps remained but the battle was over as the number 93 Repsol Honda crossed the finish line 0.732s ahead of Lorenzo. The result sees Marquez become the first rider since Valentino Rossi in 2005 to win 11 MotoGP races in a single season and also sees him return to victory after his fourth place at Brno.

Meanwhile, Rossi, who started from sixth on the grid, got past Dovizioso on lap five with Pedrosa following him past the Ducati man. A mid-race battle emerged between the two with Rossi getting the upper hand on lap 13. Rossi, Pedrosa and Dovisioso stayed in a tight cluster but it was Rossi who went on to claim the third podium spot, finishing some eight and a half seconds down on race winner Marquez.

This marks Rossi’s 246th premier class Grand Prix start, passing Alex Barros as the rider with the most premier class starts. Rossi also closed in on Pedrosa in the championship, now just ten points behind.

“It’s the first podium in Silverstone, usually we struggle a lot here. I’m very happy about the pace at the beginning. Jorge was pushing very hard and I was able to stay for the first laps. I already had a small gap as I was behind Dovi and I stressed the tire too much trying to get past,” said Rossi.

The Doctor continued, “I had to ease off to save the tire. We still had a good battle with Dani and Andrea. We have a lot of positive things. We have another podium. On the other side, I wanted to stay behind Marc and Jorge throughout the race. We have to do another step to prepare 100% for Misano in two weeks, because that will be my home Grand Prix and we will have to do more than the maximum.”

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) won a battle for sixth place as his impressive rookie campaign continued. Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and top British finisher Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) completed the top ten.

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) was down in 12th, whilst Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) was 22nd after experiencing a rear end problem.

Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) crashed out towards the end of the race, ruining his quest for a top ten finish.