Danny Kent effectively has one hand on the Moto3 world championship trophy after a masterful display in torrential rain at Silverstone. The Briton stayed calm and, crucially, stayed upright in a race of attrition to claim his sixth win of the season and with title rival Enea Bastianini crashing out on the penultimate lap, Kent’s lead is now up to 70 points.
A big feature of the race was the lack of grid at Maggotts with several riders coming unstuck over the course of the race in conditions that only deteriorated. The first victim was polesitter Jorge Navarro who tumbled with Karel Hanika, the man who had started next to him on the front row, while Jorge Martin and Brad Binder added their names to the list inside the opening three laps.
The next casualty was the most significant with Isaac Vinales, who had motored into an early lead from fifth on the grid, losing control in similar fashion to those before him. From a close second, Kent was now a dominant leader with second-placed Jakub Kornfeil over five seconds in arrears and the biggest danger to a memorable home victory was the increasingly heavy rain.
Despite the occasional moment, Danny held his nerve to the delight of the drenched Silverstone faithful while Kornfeil triggered similar scenes of delirium at the SIC squad, taking his first ever podium finish. Niccolo Antonelli followed his maiden victory at Brno with a second consecutive podium in third with his cause helped by the late crashes for Bastianini and compatriot Francesco Bagnaia.
Despite finishing 50 seconds behind the winner, Fabio Quartararo was rewarded for his caution with fourth place ahead of Indianapolis stars Livio Loi and John McPhee while Juanfran Guevara and Lorenzo Dalla Porta took career-best results in seventh and eighth.
