MotoGP preview: Silverstone

The 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone from August 29-31 will be the first event on the MotoGP calendar to welcome a winner other than Marc Marquez, as it was his Repsol Honda partner Dani Pedrosa who claimed victory last time out at Brno. For a number of reasons, it looks set to be another historic weekend…

With Pedrosa having won the Czech Grand Prix, Honda has now established a new record for the longest sequence of successive wins by one manufacturer since the MotoGP class was introduced at the start of 2002; although Marquez may have narrowly missed out on becoming the first ever rider to win the opening 11 races of a season, his team still holds a 100 per cent win record for 2014 so far.

Last year at Silverstone, the Northamptonshire circuit witnessed one of the most memorable duels in living memory as Marquez went head-to-head with Jorge Lorenzo, a battle which saw the Yamaha rider beat his rival by less than 0.1 seconds. The two-time world champion rider will now be looking to follow in the footsteps of Pedrosa by claiming his first victory of the campaign, while in the process searching for an 80th podium finish in the top tier of Grand Prix racing; only Valentino Rossi, Mick Doohan, Dani Pedrosa and Giacomo Agostini have more…

As for Rossi, the Italian is set to officially become the most experienced rider to have ever contested the 500cc or MotoGP class. He will start his 246th Grand Prix this weekend, surpassing the 245 starts of Alex Barros; ironically, this will happen exactly 17 years to the day since Rossi clinched his first world title in the 125cc class at Brno in 1997.

He debuted in the premier class in 2000 and since then has amassed a remarkable 80 Grand Prix victories, 154 podium placings, 49 pole positions, 68 fastest race laps and seven world titles. Although he has never won at Silverstone, ‘The Doctor’ triumphed at Donington Park on no less than seven occasions between 1997 and 2005, including his first 500cc win in 2000.

From a British point of view, there is a lot to shout about as five home riders will line up for the race. This time it will be Cal Crutchlow, Bradley Smith, Scott Redding, Michael Laverty and Leon Camier, whereas in 1996 – the last time as many riders contested their home British Grand Prix – the names in question were those of James Haydon, Chris Walker, Eugene McManus, Jeremy McWilliams and Terry Rymer. And could Silverstone perhaps witness a local name on pole position? Only the late, great Barry Sheene has ever done that, in the 500cc Grand Prix of 1977.

Moto2
An enticing fight is emerging for this year’s Moto2 title, as Marc VDS Racing Team’s Tito Rabat and Mika Kallio go head-to-head. Following on from their second one-two result of the season at Brno, Silverstone will host the 12th encounter.

An enticing fight is emerging for this year’s Moto2™ title, as Marc VDS Racing Team’s Tito Rabat and Mika Kallio go head-to-head. Following on from their second one-two result of the season at Brno, Silverstone will host the 12th encounter.

Last time out, the Czech Grand Prix saw Spaniard Rabat winning from Kallio in a controlled performance, while the Finnish rider fought up to second place from sixth on the grid and despite crashing both in qualifying and the Sunday Warm-Up session. This leaves 12 points between the duo with seven Grands Prix still to go. Last year, they finished fourth and sixth at Silverstone, but one doubts this happening again.

And what of Anthony West? Bearing in mind the events of Assen, the Australian would encourage a British rain shower…

Moto3
The lightweight class of the world championship has welcomed two brand-new winners in as many Grands Prix, as the recent Indianapolis-Brno double-header saw experienced heads Efren Vazquez and Alexis Masbou win for the first time.

In his first Grand Prix as a married man, Vazquez (who is set to celebrate his 28th birthday on the Tuesday after the British Grand Prix) triumphed at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway in World Championship race start 116, while Masbou established a new record for the longest time between career race debut and first Grand Prix victory: the Frenchman’s Brno win came in his 133rd Grand Prix start.

At Brno, other new records were also achieved: notably the fact that the margin of 1.944 seconds marked the smallest gap ever between the race winner and 16th place finisher, beating a record originally established in the 125cc Italian GP at Mugello in 1999. Towards the front of the Brno group, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jack Miller finished fifth to extend his championship lead to 23 points over Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Marquez, whose team-mate Alex Rins had thrown victory out of the window by inadvertently celebrating while running in the lead at the end of the penultimate lap.