Lorenzo out-muscles Marquez in a thriller

In one of the most thrilling races of the season thus far, Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo somehow fended off a last-minute challenge from the new wunder-kid, Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez to win the British MotoGP at Silverstone.

The British fans who turned up for the race may have been disappointed to see Cal Cruthlow finish in seventh place, but in Moto2 Scott Redding scored his first home victory since 2008, solidifying his position at the top of the Moto2 ranking.

Though Marquez had to settle for second place, at just 20 years of age the rookie rider continues to up the ante. Managing to secure his third pole position of the last five races, the young Spaniard put in a sterling performance despite dislocating his left shoulder during Sunday morning warm-up.

Sitting pretty in pole position, with Lorenzo next to him and hometown hopeful Cal Crutchlow third on the grid, Marquez started strongly but Lorenzo wasn't taking any prisoners, appearing to make contact and scrape in front.

Lorenzo then held the lead until the final two laps of the race when Marquez seized an opportunity to slot in front of him at Brooklands. But it was short lived as Lorenzo dived deep into Vale under brakes and regained the lead with just one lap to go.

With the crowd on the edge of its collective seat, Marquez made one final last ditch attempt to snaffle what would be record breaking sixth win for a rookie rider. And at Brooklands his attempt was successful. But with only a few corners to go the lead changed again as Lorenzo resolutely passed - and touched - Marquez at Luffield to win the race by 81 thousandths of a second.

It was an unforgettable race that will certainly go down in the annals of history as one of the best ever duels.

Honda Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa was disappointed with third place, while fourth place was wrapped up by Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, who just pipped Honda Gresini's Alvaro Bautista. LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl managed sixth. See below for the full results.

After the race, Jorge Lorenzo said the British Grand Prix was "one of the best races I’ve ever had".

The Spaniard is now on 194 points, trailing championship leader Marc Marquez by 39 points.

"To be honest I’m not thinking about the championship, I’m thinking just to enjoy this victory which was very special," said Lorenzo.

"When he [Marquez] overtook me three corners from the end I thought it was over again and second place but then he opened a little gap in the last corner so I thought "now or never" and I tried and got it."

Meanwhile Marquez was upbeat about second place, explaining, "For me these 20 points are like a win!"

"This morning when my shoulder popped out I thought that my weekend was over, but the doctors were able to put it back in place quickly and that allowed me to be up there at the front, fighting with Jorge," said Marquez.

"I didn't feel much pain, because I received an injection to dull the pain, but I was lacking strength and was feeling tired by the end. Despite all this, I was able to battle all the way until the final corner with Jorge, who eventually emerged victorious today. Congratulations to him!" said the ever-smiling rookie.

It should be noted that Marquez ended up receiving two penalty points for his involvement with Cal Crutchlow's crash during warm-up. Marquez was deemed as having not slowed down enough during yellow flags.

His Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa is second in the championship on 203 points, which is 30 points behind Marquez' 233, and wasn't happy with his third place.

"I'm disappointed with the result today," said Pedrosa. "I gradually caught up with Marc and Jorge, but I wore my tyres out in the process and at the end of the race I lacked grip on the right-hand corners," added Pedrosa.

Fourth place was a boon for fan favourite Valentino Rossi. "For me this result is a bit more positive than in Brno. Every time I come here I have a bad result, this time we worked in a different and better way," exclaimed Rossi.

Rossi is now fourth in the standings, on 156 points, with Cal Crutchlow on 136 points after he finished seventh.

2013 British MotoGP results:

1 Jorge LORENZO
2 Marc MARQUEZ    
3 Dani PEDROSA    
4 Valentino ROSSI    
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA    
6 Stefan BRADL    
7 Cal CRUTCHLOW    
8 Nicky HAYDEN    
9 Bradley SMITH    
10 Aleix ESPARGARO    
11 Andrea IANNONE    
12 Michele PIRRO    
13 Hector BARBERA    
14 Colin EDWARDS    
15 Danilo PETRUCCI    
16 Randy DE PUNIET    
17 Claudio CORTI    
18 Hiroshi AOYAMA    
19 Michael LAVERTY    
20 Yonny HERNANDEZ    
21 Bryan STARING    

Not Classified
Andrea DOVIZIOSO
Lukas PESEK