British MotoGP - RACE RESULTS
Alex Rins powered to his second MotoGP World Championship win of the season with an inspired last gasp move to snatch victory from Marc Marquez on the line.
The Spanish rider had tailed Marquez for almost the entirety of the 20 lap encounter, the Suzuki’s deft cornering ability around the fast, flowing Silverstone persistently negated by the Repsol Honda’s superior top end acceleration and speed advantage.
With limited opportunities on the circuit to complete a move that would stick, a savvy Rins instead waited until the latest possible moment to pounce, setting up his pass around Luffield and cutting up the inside at Woodcote to nose the GSX-RR ahead on the line.
Clinching it by just 0.013s – one of the smallest winning margins in MotoGP history – Rins’ British MotoGP success comes after his maiden career MotoGP win in Texas earlier this year was achieved with a similar late charge over Valentino Rossi.
By contrast, it is the second race in succession Marquez has lost out on a win at the final corner.
Dovizioso hospitalised after crash as title dreams fade
Nonetheless, Marquez has swelled his MotoGP lead to 78 points after his main rival Dovizioso fell on the opening lap in a tangle with Fabio Quartararo.
Quartararo high-sided on cold tyres at Copse, the Petronas SRT Yamaha sliding to the outside and leaving a hapless Dovizioso with nowhere to go but up and over the stricken bike ahead. The impact was hard enough to rupture the fuel tank and cause a fire, while the Italian would need to be stretchered off track by medics.
He has since been admitted to Coventry Hospital for checks after banging his head and suffering some memory loss but has not suffered any broken bones.
Behind the feuding duo, Maverick Vinales was a strong third in one of Yamaha’s most convincing races of the year so far. As has been the case on many occasions this year, Vinales’ strength of form came in a late charge that given another couple of laps could have seen him challenging for the win.
Valentino Rossi followed up in fourth, albeit a distant 11secs back and just ahead of Franco Morbidelli, who equalled his best-ever MotoGP finish in fifth position.
Cal Crutchlow notched up a solid top six finish on home soil aboard the LCR Honda, ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller, the out of sorts Ducati pair unable to spare blushes for the manufacturer in the absence of Dovizioso.
Poi Espargaro and Andrea Iannone ensured all six manufacturers were represented inside the top ten with a strong charge to ninth and tenth.
Pecco Bagnaia, Rins’ team-mate Sylvain Guintoli and Hafizh Syahrin followed in 11th, 12th and 13th, with Jorge Lorenzo returning to action in 14th. KTM duo Johann Zarco and Miguel Oliveira came together on lap ten to retire.
