![Prost International [PINT]](https://prostinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PINTtFontLogoRoboto1536x78.jpg)
The Yamaha man dictated the pace at Silverstone all weekend long and in doing so extends his Championship lead to 65 points. Quartararo was joined on the podium by Alex Rins and Aleix Espargaro who finished second and third respectively.
At a packed out Silverstone, MotoGP returned to British soil for the first time since 2019. The 5.891km venue is a fan and rider favourite with the track’s high-speed nature with fast, flowing corners.
Starting Grid
Lining up on pole position was Pol Espargaro, the Repsol Honda rider set a scintillating 1:58.889 time in Saturday’s Q2 session. He started on the front row of the grid alongside Francesco Bagnaia in second and Fabio Quartararo in third. The Frenchman dominated every practice session but couldn’t string together a pole-pace time.
Row two was occupied by three Spaniards, Pramac’s Jorge Martin started ahead of Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro.
Jack Miller fronted row three, ahead of Valentino Rossi, the Italian hoped for a strong showing on his British GP farewell, with Johann Zarco starting from ninth.
The previous British Grand Prix winner, Alex Rins, started from 10th ahead of his Suzuki teammate Joan Mir in 11th and Brad Binder in 12th.
Enea Bastianini fronted row five ahead of his compatriot Luca Marini in 14th and Takaaki Nakagami in 15th. Bastianini was disappointed to miss out on Q2 qualification after a crash at Farm Curve at the end of Q1 which gave Zarco and Rins the chance to advance.
LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez lined up in 17th, with KTM Tech3’s Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona starting either side of him.
Home heroes Cal Crutchlow and Jake Dixon started 19th and 21st respectively, with both riders hoping to impress their home crowd. KTM’s Miguel Oliviera was sandwiched between the British duo as he lined up in 20th.
As It Happened
The lights went out and Pol Espargaro led into turn one ahead of Quartararo and Bagnaia. The Ducati man was closely followed by Aleix Espargaro, who overtook Bagnaia at Maggots, and Marc Marquez.
On the same lap, Bagnaia was able to snatch back third place from Aleix Espargaro at Stowe. Rookie Martin tagged with Marc Marquez at the Vale chicane which saw both riders crash out of the race.
Aleix Espargaro was not finished with Bagnaia as he moved back up to second place into Brooklands at the end of the first lap.
Quartararo wasn’t holding back as he slipped up the inside of his championship rival Bagnaia into Village, promoting himself into third. Just over a lap later, Aleix Espargaro ran wide again but this time into The Loop and gifted second place to the Frenchman.
The lone Aprilia man fell down another position just moments later as he missed a gear shift, allowing Bagnaia to breeze past the Spaniard down the Wellington Straight. At the start of lap five, Aleix Espargaro regained the position at Copse corner with a perfectly executed overtake to move him back into the podium places.
Later that lap, Quartararo slipped up the inside of Pol Espargaro into the lead at Farm Curve, a corner that had caught out many riders over the course of the weekend. Moments later the two brothers, Pol and Aleix Espargaro, switched positions as the latter moved up to second.
With 14 laps to go, Bagnaia began to fall down the order as his tyres started to deteriorate, the Italian was overtaken by Suzuki duo Mir and Rins at Stowe.
Rins was on a mission to replicate his 2019 heroics, as he made a snappy move stick up the inside of Pol Espargaro at The Loop to move him into the podium places on lap eight.
Four laps later, Aleix Espargaro ran deep into Stowe once again. Rins capitalised on Espargaro’s error and moved into second place. Race leader Quartararo was over three seconds adrift of the battling Spaniards and showed no sign of stopping.
Meanwhile, Miller made a move on Mir at Vale into fifth with the Aussie showing some fantastic late-race pace.
At Stowe on lap 15, Pol Espargaro made an identical mistake to his brother. Miller took full advantage and moved into fourth place.
The Aussie wouldn’t settle for fourth as on the final lap he made a lunge on Aleix Espargaro into Village but the Spaniard replied on the exit of The Loop and into Aintree. Despite Miller’s best efforts to size up a move into the final sequence of corners, Aleix Espargaro did just enough to seal Aprilia’s first podium finish in the MotoGP era.
In the end, it was Fabio Quartararo who breezed to his fifth race win of the season. The faultless Frenchman extends his championship lead to 65 points after a brilliant British GP weekend. He was joined on the podium by Rins and a delighted Aleix Espargaro.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Miller, Pol Espargaro, Binder, Lecuona, Alex Marquez, Mir and Petrucci. For the first time since 1972, six different manufacturers occupied the top six finishers.
In the championship standings, a disappointing outing at Silverstone sees Bagnaia fall to fourth in the standings as Mir and Zarco move up to second and third respectively as the battle for second in the standings is split by only five points.
What’s Next?
MotoGP returns to action in a fortnight’s time as the championship touches down at Aragon for the Aragon Grand Prix where Fabio Quartararo will hope to have another fantastic weekend and edge even closer to wrapping up his maiden MotoGP title.
Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt
