Alex Rins won the British MotoGP in dramatic fashion as he beat world champion Marc Marquez to the finish line by 0.013 seconds at Silverstone yesterday. Rins’ sensational finish earned the Suzuki rider a second victory of the season, but Honda’s Marquez extended his lead atop the standings to 78 points after closest rival Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati was stretchered off the track following a first-lap crash with Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo.
Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales finished third. “Unbelievable. I don’t have words to explain. VAMOS!” Rins said of his incredible pass coming off the final corner. “I was keeping calm. The last corner for me was unbelievable, I was much faster than him, and finally I passed him.”
Marquez admitted it was frustrating to lose out after Rins nipped past him at the end, but he was happy to leave with his title hopes enhanced. “Happy of course about the championship — about the race, no. Losing on the last straight is not the best feeling,” he said.
Marquez moved onto 250 points with seven races left. Dovizioso stayed on 172. Rins climbed to third on 149, four points ahead of Danilo Petrucci of Ducati who was seventh yesterday. Vinales rose to fifth and has 118 points. Vinales finished just 0.6 seconds adrift of the lead pair in third for Yamaha, while Valentino Rossi was a distant fourth, 10 seconds behind Rins.
Marquez reckoned he was at a disadvantage having set off from pole. “I knew that Rins had a good chance, because I did all the race in front. And here when you are in front, you just push more the tyres. I say, okay, I keep pushing, because my target was not the race, it was the championship. In the last turn, I missed the front, I closed gas and he had better grip, he overtook me. But okay, happy, he’s very far in the championship, we arrive here 58 in front and we leave 78 in front.”
Marquez converted pole into an early lead ahead of Rossi, but there was drama when Quartararo and Dovizioso were involved in a frightening incident. Quartararo lost control and Dovizioso was powerless to avoid the Frenchman’s Yamaha, which acted as a launch ramp for the Ducati.
Both riders were initially cleared of serious injury, but Dovizioso was taken hospital after briefly losing consciousness in the accident. The crash helped Rins, who had started fifth, move up to third on the track.
On the second lap the Spaniard cleared Rossi for second place, setting him up to stalk Marquez for the rest of the race before the astonishing finale.
Meanwhile, Augusto Fernandez clinched his second career Moto2 victory after a battle with fellow Spaniard Jorge Navarro. Championship leader Alex Marquez, younger brother of Marc, made his first mistake of the year by crashing out in the early stages while in the lead.
Fernandez cut Alex Marquez’s championship lead stands to 35 points. The day started with another Spanish triumph as Marcos Ramirez took full advantage of an action-packed final lap to grab Moto3 glory.
The Championship fight took a huge turn though when Albert Arenas wiped out Aron Canet, who is second in the standings, in the early stages, allowing Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who was third, to move 14 points clear with a seventh podium of the season.
British MotoGP results
1. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 40mins 12.799sec, 2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 0.013, 3. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 0.620, 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 11.439, 5. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 13.109, 6. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda-LCR) 19.169, 7. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 19.682, 8. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati-Pramac) 20.318, 9. Pol Espargaro (ESP/KTM) 21.079, 10. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Aprilia) 25.144 Did not finish (selected): Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati), Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha-SRT), Johann Zarco (FRA/KTM)
MotoGP riders’ standings (after 12 of 19 races): 1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 250 pts, 2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 172, 3. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 149, 4. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 145, 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 118
Constructors’ standings: 1. Honda 256 pts, 2. Ducati 211, 3. Yamaha 195, 4. Suzuki 166, 5. KTM 76, 6. Aprilia 53
Moto3 results: 1. Marcos Ramirez (ESP/Honda) 37min 50.443sec, 2. Tony Arbolino (ITA/Honda) at 0.240sec, 3. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (ITA/Honda) 0.374, 4. Niccolo Antonelli (ITA/Honda) 0.425, 5. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN/Honda) 0.495
Moto3 standings (after 12 of 19 rounds): 1. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (ITA/Honda) 171 points, 2. Aron Canet (ESP/KTM) 157, 3. Tony Arbolino (ITA/Honda) 133, 4. Niccolo Antonelli (ITA/Honda) 118, 5. Marcos Ramirez (ESP/Honda) 114
Moto2 results: 1. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/Kalex) 37min 41.833sec, 2. Jorge Navarro (ESP/SpeedUp) at 0.489sec, 3. Brad Binder (AFS/KTM) 0.571, 4. Remy Garner (AUS/Kalex) 0.738, 5. Tetsuta Nagashima (JPN/Kalex) 3.276
Moto2 standings (after 12 of 19 rounds): 1. Alex Marquez (ESP/Kalex) 181 points, 2. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/Kalex) 146, 3. Thomas Lüthi (Sui/Kalex) 146, 4. Jorge Navaroo (ESP/SpeedUp) 146, 5. Brad Binder (AFS/KTM) 125
Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins celebrates on the podium. (AFP)
