Bagnaia reigned supreme in the MotoGP British GP and revived his championship chances with his fourth win of the season!

Fans of the MotoGP series have finally arrived! After a long six-week break, the most prestigious category of motorcycle racing has returned to action at Silverstone in the UK. Frenchman Johann Zarco was attacking for his maiden career victory, but after his crash the way was opened for Francesco Bagnaia. TheItalian won for the fourth time this season. In points, he came close to the leading duo of Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaró, who finished far behind the podium.

Temperatures were warmer just before the start of the race than they were on Friday and Saturday. Several drivers, including Quartararo, opted for the medium compound rear rubber, while most riders opted for the hard rear tyre specification.

Zarco’s wait for victory continues

The lights went out and Zarco held the race lead, but Quartararo made a perfect start from the second row. the reigning champion’s main objective was to minimise the loss after the long lap penalty he received after the Dutch Tourist Trophy in June.

Quartararo waited until the fourth lap to complete the long lap. He then dropped from second to fifth.

However, from then on the Frenchman did not have the speed to attack the front positions. Even worse, he was gradually overtaken by Jorge Martín on a Ducati and Maverick Viñales on an Aprilia.

On lap five of the race, Zarco dropped out of the lead, and even after this grand prix, he was unable to take his first ever MotoGP victory. Jack Miller on the factory ducati took the lead of the race for a while, but was passed by Suzuki’s Álex Rins on the same lap.

Rins built up a small lead over the factory duo of Miller and Bagnaii. The Italian was very quick to attack, first getting ahead of his teammate and then making a move on Rins, whose pace gradually dropped in the latter part of the race.

Bagnaia doesn’t admit to losing his title hopes

With six laps to go in the grand prix, 2020 world champion Joan Mir, who by then was warming up under the boiler for the clearly struggling Quartararo, fell at the fast Stowe corner. Either the Nice native’s rear tyre choice was unfortunate or he simply wasn’t up to the speed of the other manufacturers’ bikes.

Whether it was one or a combination of both, Quartararo eventually dropped to eighth place just ahead of his championship rival Espargar on Aprilia.

Although one aprilia in the form of Espargaro was at the bottom of the top ten, mainly due to the Spaniard’s health problems, the second aprilia of Viñales worked wonders. With five circuits to go, Viñales was still in fifth place. However, he gradually worked his way past Martin, Rins and Miller and attacked Bagnaiu on lap nineteen of twenty.

The Italian eventually managed to shake off the Spaniard and dominated the British Grand Prix by 426 thousandths of a second, with win number four of the season propelling him up to third overall. Viñales stayed ahead of Miller to record his second consecutive podium finish.

The historic balance of the MotoGP class is confirmed by the fact that the top ten in this year’s British GP at Silverstone lined up in just 6.6 seconds. The only time the top 10 was closer was after the second race in Qatar last year.

UK MotoGP GP results:

1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati Lenovo Team) 40::10.260

2. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia Racing) +0.426

3. Jack Miller (Aus., Ducati Lenovo Team) +0.614

4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Gresini Racing MotoGP) +1.651

5. Jorge Martín (Span., Prima Pramac Racing) +1.750

MotoGP World Championship standings after the British GP (race 12/20)::

1. Fabio Quartararo (Fra., Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) 180

2. Aleix Espargaró (Sp., Aprilia Racing) 158

3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati Lenovo Team) 131

4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Gresini Racing MotoGP) 118

5. Johann Zarco (Fra., Prima Pramac Racing) 114

Source: MotoGP