A British classic, the race of the year! Aleix Espargaró beats Pecca Bagnaiu in breathtaking, rain-affected MotoGP grand prix at Silverstone

The MotoGP Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone was an advertisement for motorsport! At the former military airfield, Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaró triumphed, with a last lap manoeuvre that saw him take down reigning World Champion Francesco Bagnaia. The second half of the race was affected by light rain, which allowed all spectators to see a fantastic grand prix full of head-to-head battles. Bagnaio’s direct rivals for the title did not have a happy start to the second half of the season, with Marco Bezzecchi crashing and Jorge Martín finishing only sixth.

After a six-week summer break, MotoGP returned to this season’s motorsport schedule with the British Grand Prix. The English circuit of Silverstone hosted the twelfth premier class grand prix, which was free of rain showers for almost the entire weekend.

Saturday’s 10-lap sprint was held on a wet but fast drying track. All the drivers started the short race on wet tyres, but no one risked switching to dry tyres. Álex Márquez on the Ducati made the best use of the difficult conditions, taking the win ahead of Marc Bezzecchi and Maverick Viñales. The leader of the standings, Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia, clawed his way back to 14th place.

Different starts for the big names

Jack Miller qualified alongside pole position holder Bezzecchi. Predictably, the Aussie’s ktm took the top position after lights out. The start also went well for Bagnai, who didn’t drop back a few places compared to the sprint and instead took second place just behind Miller. The Italian was followed by his compatriot and direct rival for the world title Bezzecchi.

Behind them, there was contact in the first corner between Jorge Martín, another competitor of Bagnaia, and Brad Binder. The Spaniard was taken off the track by this clash with the South African and dropped to 21st place.

Up the field was 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo. The Frenchman qualified last and finished the sprint in a depressing penultimate place. However, the Nice native’s main race went exceedingly well as he worked his way up to 16th in the opening corners.

🚦 WE'RE GO AT SILVERSTONE! 🚦

AGAIN the KTM rockets off the line! @jackmilleraus leads! 💨#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/vyabirxAm5

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 6, 2023

Miller didn’t hang on to the lead for too long. The better pace of Bagnaiy and his Ducati machine played a major role in the opening minutes of the race. By the second lap, the Italian had already made his way past his Australian rival and began his assault on a second consecutive victory.

Many experts and fans, thanks to their experience at previous grand prix, predicted a quick loss of pace for Miller and a subsequent drop through the field. The factory KTM rider dashed those expectations in the space of one corner as he left the track on lap three, losing many positions.

A beautiful four-way battle at the front

Already on the third lap there was the first crash of the grand prix, which was taken care of by Joan Mir. Thus, for the factory Honda driver, his only finish still comes from the VC of Portugal, the opening race of the season, where he finished eleventh.

Around lap five, the Aprilia motorcycles gradually began to wake up. While Bagnaia held the top spot ahead of Bezzecchi and the younger Márquez, behind them Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales sounded the horn to attack the podium. Their progress was made easier by technical problems for Saturday’s sprint winner Márquez, who had to retire from a promising third place.

Bezzecchi, meanwhile, read Bagnaia’s racing style from second position. However, his analysis came to an early end on lap six when he failed to judge the ideal braking moment into Stowe corner and threw his ducati into the tyre barriers at high speed. This mishap ensured that Bagnaia was free to increase his lead in the standings considerably.

Unfortunately, Bezzecchi’s accident didn’t mean a restful ride to first place for the Italian. Just a few moments later, Espargaró was able to hang on his back, his rapid pace confirmed not only by his teammate Viñales but also by Miguel Oliveira on the satellite Aprilia. The Portuguese rider showed dazzling speed and was able to match the pace of Johann Zarco and Luca Marini in the battle for fifth place.

The Aprilia riders were clearly setting the fastest times of all. Espargaró was trailing Bagnaia and Viñales was battling with Brad Binder for the last spot on the podium. The top four subsequently merged into one group, but the close battles within that group momentarily eluded Bagnaio. The Italian’s advantage didn’t last long, however, as the trio of Espargar, Viñales and Binder quickly settled down and set off together to meet the Italian.

A nerve-wracking finish

With seven laps to go, the marshals put out white flags with a red cross to signify raindrops falling. The shower over Silverstone would have meant nothing at all, however, unless the leading four adjusted their pace to avoid going down.

As the riders in the second half of the field went to change bikes, it was clear that the track conditions were changing in a major way. The leading foursome decided not to emulate these riders and continued at a slightly cautious pace. Enea Bastianini, Bagnaiy’s teammate, and Marc Márquez on the factory Honda were not cautious enough. Both of these drivers crashed due to the rain. Bastianini continued the race while Márquez watched the rest of the race behind the barriers.

The race was coming to an extremely breathtaking conclusion at the front. This left Bagnaia in first place, doing what he could to keep his hungry rivals behind him. The leading four soon became a shocking five. For Oliveira was suddenly in his element and even circled into third place for a few seconds!

There was still a collision between Quartararo and Marini deep in the field, after which the Frenchman broke off his entire fairing and involuntarily went to his mechanics for a second machine.

Although the rain had eased, Espargaró pushed enormously on Bagnaio in the last two laps. This duo built a small lead on Viñales, Oliveira and Binder, who were battling for bronze. Bagnaia eventually succumbed to Espargaró when the Spaniard took advantage of a better exit from the Copse corner to squeeze past the Italian for the lead, which he did not relinquish until the chequered flag.

Aleix Espargaró thus claimed his second career victory ahead of Bagnaia and finally Binder in third. A solid fourth place went to Oliveira, who lost just seven hundredths of a second to Binder. The last lap went badly for Viñales, who had to settle for fifth place.

Despite his defeat on the last lap, Bagnaia increased his lead in the standings. His lead over the now second-placed Martín is 41 points, with Bezzecchi dropping to third overall after his retirement, six points behind Martín and 47 points behind Bagnaia.

The MotoGP rider’s next race is in two weeks’ time at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

MotoGP British Grand Prix results (race 9/20, 20 laps = 118.0 km; top 10 only):

1. Aleix Espargaró (Sp., Aprilia) 40:40.367
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) +0.215
3. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +0.680
4. Miguel Oliveira (Por., Aprilia) +0.750
5. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) +2.101
6. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) +7.903
7. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) +9.099
8. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) +9.298
9. Johann Zarco (Fra., Ducati) +9.958
10. Raúl Fernández (Sp., Aprilia) +19.947

2023 MotoGP rider standings (after 9/20; top 10 only):

1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 214 points
2. Jorge Martín (Spa., Ducati) 173
3. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) 167
4. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 131
5. Johann Zarco (Fra., Ducati) 122
6. Aleix Espargaró (Sp., Aprilia) 107
7. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) 107
8. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) 90
9. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) 75
10. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 74

Source: MotoGP