Apparently, the summer break hasn’t slowed him down a bit: Francesco Bagnaia picked up yesterday at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone where he left off in Assen a few weeks ago in MotoGP. The Italian Ducati rider won the twelfth race of the season, showing that he is a force to be reckoned with ahead of the following Austrian Grand Prix – traditionally a circuit for “the reds”. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) defended his championship lead in eighth place, while his closest rival Aleix Espargaro was the hero of the weekend in England in ninth place.
The Spaniard was thrown off his Aprilia at 200 km/h during a violent highside at the end of turn twelve in fourth practice session on Saturday and crashed onto the asphalt. As if by a miracle, the World Cup runner-up escaped without serious injuries. However, his start on Sunday was uncertain for a long time. In pain, he fought his way to ninth place.
His teammate Maverick Vinales, who was third in Assen, jumped into the breach and fought a duel with Bagnaia in the final laps for victory. But Bagnaia fended off the attacks. “I think this is my best win so far,” said the 25-year-old, who previously had to deal with a car accident under the influence of alcohol while on holiday in Ibiza. Another Ducati man finished third on the podium in Australia’s Jack Miller. Brand colleague Johann Zarco, who started from pole position, ended the Grand Prix on lap five of 20 in the gravel trap. After 96 races, the Frenchman is still waiting for his first triumph in the premier class.
How close things are there is also illustrated by the fact that the top ten at Silverstone this time finished within just 6.646 seconds, for the first time in MotoGP history the riders were even closer together. The two KTM riders Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder finished sixth and eleventh in England. The Innviertler were more happy in the smaller classes.
Fernandez took the lead
Augusto Fernandez celebrated his third Moto2 victory in a row and thus also took over the championship lead. In the penultimate corner, the Spaniard caught Alonso Lopez, who had been leading up to that point. In Moto3, Jaume Masia and Deniz Öncü finished second and third. Championship leader Sergio Garcia and his pursuer Izan Guevara retired, Honda driver Dennis Foggia won.
Source: Nachrichten
