Christopher Fillocque with AFP / Photo credit: BEN STANSALL / AFP
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6:20 p.m., August 06, 2023
Passed between the drops of the capricious English sky, the Spaniard Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) won the British Grand Prix in MotoGP on Sunday ahead of the championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), 2nd and who increases his lead overall. On the Silverstone track, Espargaro, starting from a modest 12th place on the grid, took the advantage over Bagnaia on the last lap of the race and signed his second success in England in the premier class: “there are days when we feel invincible”, savored the 34-year-old Catalan.
“It was difficult,” admitted Bagnaia on arrival. I tried to push but I was at the limit (…). Finishing second is still an excellent result”, welcomed the defending champion all the same. The South African Brad Binder (KTM) completed the podium in the ninth round (out of 20) of the season, while the Portuguese Miguel Olivieira (Aprilia-RNF) stalled at the foot of the podium, after his fantastic comeback from 16th place.In the championship, Bagnaia (214 points) is now 41 points ahead of his new runner-up, Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac – 173 pts), 6th Sunday Forced to retire due to a fall, Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46), second overall on Saturday evening, fell to 3rd place, 47 points behind his Italian compatriot (167 pts).
Rain
When the lights went out, Bagnaia, who started 4th, immediately took the advantage over the Spaniard Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini), 3rd at the start. On a dry track but under threatening skies, he then overtook Bezzecchi, who started on pole, then the Australian Jack Miller (KTM). At the end of the second lap, the overall leader was leading the race, closely followed by Bezzecchi – before the latter crashed with 15 laps to go. However, the field did not remain free for very long for the Turinese who then saw an impressive Aleix Espargaro return to his wheel.
Shortly after halfway, the appearance of raindrops on the circuit could have reshuffled the cards; the white flags – signaling wet portions of the track – were waved, leaving the possibility for the pilots to return to the pits to leave with a motorcycle equipped with rain tires. But the majority of the drivers – including the leading men – preferred to stay on the track, at the risk of losing grip. “I would have liked to overtake him (Bagnaia, editor’s note) well before but when the rain arrived (…) I told myself that we had to stay wise” until the last lap, explained Espargaro, who becomes the ninth different winner since 2013 to win on the English track.
Quartararo hangs on
Starting 22nd and last on the starting grid – his worst qualifying result since his MotoGP debut in 2019 – Quartararo gradually moved up the competition on Sunday. At the end of the first lap, he was already 15th and continued his ascent to 7th place. But the victim of a collision with the Italian Luca Marini (Ducati-VR46), the Frenchman, then 10th, had to return to the garage to change bikes, losing precious seconds… and places.
The other Frenchman on the grid Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) finished 9th. Among the big losers of the day, besides Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) had to retire after hitching Bagnaia’s bike. This abandonment comes the day after the Spaniard’s victory in the sprint. His brother Marc (Honda), six-time MotoGP world champion, also threw in the towel after contact with Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati).