Jonas Folger came out on top in a race-long battle with Johann Zarco to take the first grand prix victory of his career in horrendous conditions at Silverstone.
The front two were in a class of their won and pulled out a lengthy advantage over the rest of the field right from the start, leaving them both to do battle for victory, something neither rider had done before at this level.
The opportunity was presented to them because championship leader Nicolas Terol had, by far, his poorest race of the season and despite leading around the first lap, was never a factor in the fight for victory.
Folger, Zarco and Hector Faubel all passed Terol as the pre-race favourite dropped back to fourth. Polesitter Maverick Vinales was also having a rough time in the slippery conditions and was two places further back in sixth.
The 16-year-old didn't wait long before charging back through the field though, and produced some typically aggressive overtaking to scythe past both Aspar Aprilias in successive corners to move back up to third on lap three. This battle distanced the group from the front two and with six laps gone, Folger and Zarco were nearly eight seconds clear.
Not to be forgetten, Adrian Martin was moving into contention on the third Bankia Aspar bike and was challenging Vinales and Faubel, but Terol was having a miserable time and had dropped to ninth, behind Luis Salom, Sandro Cortese and Efren Vazquez.
Back at the front, Folger and Zarco took turns in the lead with neither wanting to run in the spray being kicked up on the straights. On lap 11, the Frenchman made his move into Brooklands and tried to build up a lead.
The reason for this was that Vinales and Faubel were homing in on the front two but the challenge of Vinales soon evaporated after a crash on lap 12. Faubel couldn't quite get to within striking distance either and appeared to settle for third.
The decisive move for the lead came on lap 13 when Folger retook the lead at the same place he had lost it two laps earlier. With the finish in sight, the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider put the hammer down and claimed his maiden victory by 3.885s.
Zarco and Faubel completed the podium while Luis Salom edged out Efren Vazquez to finish fourth, the best result of his Grand Prix career. Adrian Martin was the second of the Aspar bikes home in sixth with the front two in the championship struggling. Sandro Cortese got the better of Nicolas Terol to take seventh but with the series leader down in eighth, the German may see today as a missed opportunity to make up some ground.
Jakub Kornfeil finished ninth while Danny Kent was the first of four Brits to score points with tenth place. Danny Webb gave Mahindra their best ever result in 11th with Taylor Mackenzie riding well to take 12th. John McPhee will arguably the happiest of the quartet though after outracing Niklas Ajo on the final lap to take the final point in 15th, his first in Grand Prix racing.
Harry Stafford was sadly unable to make it five British riders in the points though as the Ongetta–Centro–Seta youngster failed to take the start.
Race Result (17 Laps):
Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time/Gap | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jonas Folger | GER | Red Bull Ajo MotorSport | 43:48.862 | 25 |
2 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Avant-AirAsia-Ajo | +3.885 | 20 |
3 | Hector Faubel | SPA | Bankia Aspar Team | +14.951 | 16 |
4 | Luis Salom | SPA | RW Racing GP | +17.164 | 13 |
5 | Efren Vazquez | SPA | Avant-AirAsia-Ajo | +17.403 | 11 |
6 | Adrian Martin | SPA | Bankia Aspar Team | +19.236 | 10 |
7 | Sandro Cortese | GER | Intact-Racing Team Germany | +21.609 | 9 |
8 | Nicolas Terol | SPA | Bankia Aspar Team | +25.167 | 8 |
9 | Jakub Kornfeil | CZE | Ongetta-Centro-Seta | +32.245 | 7 |
10 | Danny Kent | GBR | Red Bull Ajo MotorSport | +32.971 | 6 |
11 | Danny Webb | GBR | Mahindra Racing | +54.704 | 5 |
12 | Taylor Mackenzie | GBR | Phonica Racing | +1:03.969 | 4 |
13 | Louis Rossi | FRA | Matteoni Racing | +1:35.316 | 3 |
14 | Alexis Masbou | FRA | Caretta Technology | +1:43.383 | 2 |
15 | John McPhee | GBR | Racing Steps Foundation KRP | +1:45.973 | 1 |
16 | Niklas Ajo | FIN | TT Motion Events Racing | +1:46.339 | |
17 | Alberto Moncayo | SPA | AndalucÃa Banca Civica | +1:52.836 | |
18 | Zulfahmi Khairuddin | MAL | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | +2:25.969 | |
19 | Joan Perello | SPA | Matteoni Racing | +2:36.732 | |
20 | Alessandro Tonucci | ITA | Team Italia FMI | +1 Lap | |
Not Classified | |||||
Marcel Schrotter | GER | Mahindra Racing | +3 Laps | ||
Sergio Gadea | SPA | Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing | +5 Laps | ||
Maverick Vinales | SPA | Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing | +6 Laps | ||
Peter Sebestyen | HUN | Caretta Technology | +6 Laps | ||
Giulian Pedone | SWI | Phonica Racing | +6 Laps | ||
Simone Grotzkyj | ITA | Phonica Racing | +7 Laps | ||
Jasper Iwema | NED | Ongetta-Abbink-Metaal | +7 Laps | ||
Francesco Mauriello | ITA | WTR-Ten10 Racing | +11 Laps | ||
Sturla Fagerhaug | NOR | WTR-Ten10 Racing | +17 Laps | ||
Harry Stafford | GBR | Ongetta-Centro-Seta | Non Starter | ||
Luigi Morciano | ITA | Team Italia FMI | Non Starter |
Riders Championship (After Round 6: Great Britain)
Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Wins | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nicolas Terol | SPA | Bankia Aspar Team | 4 | 128 |
2 | Jonas Folger | GER | Red Bull Ajo MotorSport | 1 | 93 |
3 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Avant-AirAsia-Ajo | 83 | |
4 | Sandro Cortese | GER | Intact-Racing Team Germany | 81 | |
5 | Efren Vazquez | SPA | Avant-AirAsia-Ajo | 68 | |
6 | Maverick Vinales | SPA | Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing | 1 | 65 |
7 | Hector Faubel | SPA | Bankia Aspar Team | 48 | |
8 | Sergio Gadea | SPA | Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing | 36 | |
9 | Luis Salom | SPA | RW Racing GP | 35 | |
10 | Adrian Martin | SPA | Bankia Aspar Team | 30 | |
11 | Danny Kent | GBR | Red Bull Ajo MotorSport | 28 | |
12 | Jakub Kornfeil | CZE | Ongetta-Centro-Seta | 25 | |
13 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | AndalucÃa Banca Civica | 22 | |
14 | Taylor Mackenzie | GBR | Phonica Racing | 15 | |
15 | Alberto Moncayo | SPA | AndalucÃa Banca Civica | 15 | |
16 | Louis Rossi | FRA | Matteoni Racing | 13 | |
17 | Simone Grotzkyj | ITA | Phonica Racing | 12 | |
18 | Zulfahmi Khairuddin | MAL | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | 11 | |
19 | Hiroki Ono | JAP | Caretta Technology | 8 | |
20 | Danny Webb | GBR | Mahindra Racing | 5 | |
21 | Niklas Ajo | FIN | TT Motion Events Racing | 5 | |
22 | Alexis Masbou | FRA | Caretta Technology | 5 | |
23 | Jasper Iwema | NED | Ongetta-Abbink-Metaal | 4 | |
24 | Marcel Schrotter | GER | Mahindra Racing | 3 | |
25 | John McPhee | GBR | Racing Steps Foundation KRP | 1 | |
26 | Josep Rodriguez | SPA | Wild-Wolf-Racc-MS | 1 |