Ducati’s Andrea Dovizoso took victory in today’s Silverstone MotoGP, passing Valentino Rossi for the lead with three laps left to run and returned to the top of the points table as Marc Marquez’ Honda blew up with seven laps to run.
Rossi had led from the start and managed a gap of eight-tenths for two-thirds of the race but asked too much of his hard rear Michelin and Dovizoso, also on a hard rear, went past at Stowe corner for the lead. Movistar Yamaha’s team-mate Maverick, who gambled with a soft rear, followed Dovizioso through and secured second.
Cal Crutchlow was in the mix right through the race but just didn’t have the pace to make a pass for the podium, wrapping up fourth place and finishing less than a second off the lead.
Dovizoso now leads the championship by nine points but Vinales very nearly stole his fourth win of the year. After looking after the soft tyre and saying in parc ferme he let Rossi go at the beginning, the Spaniard closed down Dovizoso in the final lap and looked like he might put in a pass on the entry to Brooklands but the Ducati man had it covered.
In his 300th Grand Prix start, Rossi suffered with his rear tyre and said he had to slow by half a second after leading for a majority. Crutchlow, also on the hard rear, was just three-tenths behind The Doctor at the line.
Marquez was left to trudge disconsolately to the barrier and back to his garage. A huge puff of smoke signalled the end of his challenge as he sat in third place. He now goes to Misano second in the title chase and will try and claw it back on Dovizioso’s home turf.
Jorge Lorenzo ended his Sunday in fifth place with the Monster Yamaha of Johann Zarco in sixth. The Monster Yamaha man chose hard Michelins all round and looked at half distance he had the pace to take a top-five spot, passing Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo with seven to go but Lorenzo had better pace in the run to the flag.
Scott Redding had a race-long battle with Alex Rins for eighth place but pulled a two-second gap at the end with Alvaro Bautista taking a distant tenth place. Pol Espargaro crossed the line in 11th but was spat off his KTM at Copse on the slowing down lap.
Bradley Smith was as high as 15th place in the early stages but slipped back to 17th. Sam Lowes crashed on lap seven while Andrea Iannone took Danilo Petrucci out with three laps to go. The Italian lost the front of his Ecstar Suzuki and wiped out his compatriot’s Pramac Ducati.
