Rins wins dramatic British GP

Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) claimed a sensational victory at the Silverstone-hosted British Grand Prix on August 25 as he and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) put on a sensational battle that went to the wire.

Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha) was third in a race where Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) crashed at turn one, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) caught up as collateral damage – and with it any real hope of winning the championship.

It was Rins’ second MotoGP win, and he said: “Today has been unbelievable. I won in Austin, beating Valentino. And now I’ve won here, beating Marc. These guys are very fast and are ‘legends’ of the sport.

“I knew it would be difficult to beat Marc today, but I really wanted to try, and it was fantastic to do it. In a couple of the sectors he was faster than me, but I could make it up in some other areas.

“But towards the end of the race I felt I had better pace than him, and I told myself that I must go for it and take the chance, I saw the opportunity and I made it happen. Big thanks to everyone in the team!”

Silverstone was set for a barnstormer, but nobody saw what was coming at the first corner. The lights went out and heading into Copse for the first time, Quartararo’s back end slipped round as the Frenchman reacted to Rins getting out of shape in front of him. Quartararo crashed and unable to take avoiding action, Dovizioso collided with the stricken Petronas Yamaha as two leading race contenders crashed out. Dovi has no broken bones, but he needs further checks after taking a big knock to the head.

Meanwhile, Marquez had got away well from pole and was leading the race from Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha), with Rins third. The latter didn’t take much time to pass ‘The Doctor’ though and the number 42 slipped into second, with himself and Marquez slowly edging clear of Rossi in third.

On lap four, the leading duo were over a second clear, with the gap to Rossi stretching lap by lap as Viñales smelt blood on his teammate. Lap six ticked by and Viñales pounced, passing Rossi down the Hanger Straight but at this point, Marquez and Rins were over two seconds up the road.

Rins was locked onto the tailpipes of Marquez. Sectors one and three looked like the areas where Rins had an edge on the number 93 and on lap eight, the Suzuki was leading. Coming up the hill from Copse, Marquez sat up slightly to seemingly tell Rins: ‘go on then, you can lead for a bit’. That didn’t last long however, Rins was wide at Stowe corner and it was Marquez who had the baton once more. There was nothing to separate the pair, with Viñales flirting around the 1.5/2 second margin behind.

With four laps remaining, an error. On the exit of the Vale chicane, Rins was out the seat. This dropped Rins 0.6 seconds back to give Marquez some breathing space but would it be the turning point of the Grand Prix? No. Rins reeled in Marquez by the end of the lap as we set ourselves for a tense final three laps. In the meantime, Viñales was still hovering at 1.5 seconds back.

On the penultimate lap, Rins made a move stick. A unique one too, the GSX-RR dived under the RC213V at turn 15 but immediately, on the Wellington Straight, Marquez blasted back past. Last lap time, nothing between them. But a Yamaha rider was now just 0.5 seconds back from Rins – surely Viñales couldn’t claw this back?

A little further down the road, Marquez was on the defensive. Heading into Sector 3 – a place Rins had been strong all race – the Repsol Honda was holding the tight line. No way through at The Loop for Rins, but would Marquez’ run onto the straight be hampered? Seemingly not. Marquez held it into Brooklands – the last real overtaking spot – but Rins was strong round Luffield and through Woodcote.

The lap previous saw Rins get alongside Marquez round the outside at the finish line – Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene esque from 1979 – but was ran wide. At the final corner, Marquez knew Rins had the advantage and tried to cover it off.

The Repsol Honda had a slight twitch on the rear as Rins took a wide, sweeping line on his Suzuki and spectacularly won the race to the line to win by just 0.013 seconds. Later on, Rins revealed he thought it was the last lap on the penultimate lap...

Viñales was close, but not close enough to challenge in third. Rossi’s dreams of a return to winning ways faded as the race went on but nevertheless, ‘The Doctor’ will take the positives from another fourth.

FULL RESULTS HERE

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) had his mentor in sight but couldn’t quite hunt him down, a top-five for the Italian equals his best MotoGP result. Home hero Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) took a sixth away from Silverstone after starting from ninth, the Coventry-born rider held off a late charge from Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) and close friend Jack Miller (Pramac Racing Ducati).

The Ducatis finished seventh and eighth respectively, as Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM) had the trio in his sights to land KTM a top 10. And completing the top 10 was Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Andrea Iannone – the Italian claiming his best result on board an RS-GP.

Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) crashed out at The Loop with 12 to go, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) the other non-finisher.

Top 10:
1. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar)
2. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.013
3. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.620
4. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 11.439
5. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 13.109
6. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) + 19.169
7. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) + 19.682
8. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) + 20.318
9. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 21.079
10. Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 25.144