Marc Marquez returned to the top step of the podium after beating Jorge Lorenzo in a dramatic battle at Silverstone. The pair were inseparable throughout but a forceful move and a touch of contact two laps from the finish swung it decisively in the world champion’s favour.
Lorenzo signalled his intentions from the moment the lights changed, blasting past Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso to grab the lead into Copse, but his teammate became embroiled in an early feud with Aleix Espargaro as he fought to keep the leading group in sight. After a failed attempt at Brooklands on lap one, Valentino made his move stick second time around but by the time he had eased past Dovizioso’s Ducati at Village, his two main adversaries were 1.8s up the road, a gap he was ultimately unable to bridge.
Instead he fell into the clutches of Dani Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda, losing third to the Spaniard on lap nine but Dani was no more capable of reeling in his compatriots at the front and with eight laps remaining, Rossi responded with a move at Stowe, capitalising on an error from his rival while Dovizioso, still a factor in the podium fight, also moving through into fourth.
Yamaha’s morale took a hit at Stowe next time around though as Marc Marquez’s patience finally ran out and the world champion stormed through with remarkable ease to take the lead. Lorenzo valiantly attempted to keep the pressure on and was duly rewarded with a mistake from the world champion five laps from the finish, allowing Jorge to regain the edge at Vale but Marquez struck back in brutal fashion, forcing Jorge to yield at The Loop on lap eighteen.
With that, the race had been settled with Lorenzo too far back to launch a counter attack on the final lap. Valentino Rossi held off Dani Pedrosa for third while Andrea Dovizioso confirmed Ducati’s continued improvement with fifth, just 0.719s off the podium. Pol Espargaro was next up for Tech 3 in sixth although his teammate Bradley Smith had another afternoon to forget after being forced to pit at half distance. The British hope ran as high as sixth early on but his delay left him a lap down in 22nd.
Stefan Bradl and Andrea Iannone took their fight for seventh down to the wire with the German edging it in the end while Aleix Espargaro took the open class honours in ninth despite fading from his good start. Second in that particular field went to Scott Redding and the Gresini rookie rode another exceptional race to take tenth outright, beating compatriot Cal Crutchlow to the flag in doing so.
