Suzuki Ecstar rider, Alex Rins claimed a sensational victory at the British Grand Prix as he and Repsol Honda rider, Marc Marquez went head to head in the final lap, after which Rins eventually snatched victory at the finish line. On the other hand, Yamaha riders, Maverick Viñales, Valentino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli managed to pick up P3, P4 and P5 respectively, which meant there were 3 M1’s in the top-5 and Yamaha riders managed to have a good day despite not winning P1. However, there was some drama/crash at the first turn involving Ducati rider, Andrea Dovizioso and Petronas Yamaha rider, Fabio Quartararo, which meant they could not finish the race.
The drama at the first corner started, as soon as the lights went out and the racers headed into Copse for the first time, that is when Quartararo’s back end slipped as the Frenchman reacted to Rins getting out of shape in front of him. Meaning, Dovizioso collided with the affected Petronas Yamaha bike and the two leading race contenders crashed out in the first lap of the race. Dovi was immediately taken to the medical centre for a checkup after landing heavily and was later transported to a hospital, however, reports suggest Dovi has no broken bones, but he still needs to be checked further, as he took a big knock to the head.
Meanwhile, with four laps remaining, Rins overtook Marquez by the end of the lap and was preparing for a quick victory in the final three laps. While Viñales was still hovering more than 1.5 seconds behind the leaders. On the penultimate lap, Rins made a quick unique move, as his GSX-RR dived under the Honda RC213v at Turn 15 but immediately after, Marquez blasted back. The previous lap saw Rins overtake Marquez round the outside at the finish line, however, at the final corner, Marquez knew Rins had the advantage and he tried to cover it off. But the Repsol Honda had a slight twitch on the rear, which meant Rins took the lead just 0.013 seconds at the finish line to win the race in a spectacular fashion.
Top 10:
- Alex Rins – Team Suzuki Ecstar
- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team (+ 0.013)
- Maverick Viñales – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP (+ 0.620)
- Valentino Rossi – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP (+ 11.439)
- Franco Morbidelli – Petronas Yamaha SRT (+ 13.109)
- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda Castrol (+ 19.169)
- Danilo Petrucci – Ducati Team (+ 19.682)
- Jack Miller – Pramac Racing (+ 20.318)
- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (+ 21.079)
- Andrea Iannone – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini (+ 25.144)
Commenting on this victory, Alex Rins, Team Suzuki Ecstar said, “I beat him today but now I need to continue; I know it will be difficult. I made some mistakes, I nearly crashed at the first corner – I had a big moment. Two laps to the end I crossed the line very close to Marc and I thought the race was over but then I saw one lap remaining and thought: ‘wow, Alex, come on you need to keep pushing’. I was able to cut a lot of time in the first and second sectors and then in the last sector, Marc was much stronger than me. Into Turn 16 he was able to break really hard. The last lap was unique though and it was possible for me to overtake. I have a lot of confidence with my Suzuki right now. We work so hard during the practices to get the feeling right and I was able to play with my bike to brake harder. The last two crashes we had at Assen and the Sachsenring I was fighting at the top, we had a lot of confidence. Today I was comfortable behind Marc.”
