MotoGP

Espargaro denies Bagnaia British GP win with last-lap pass

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
6 min read

Aleix Espargaro took his and Aprilia’s second MotoGP victory with a last-lap overtake on Pecco Bagnaia in a brilliant British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Bagnaia led for the vast majority of the distance and looked to have his challengers covered off even as conditions changed – yet was ultimately outfoxed by Espargaro, who had started only 12th.

Like in the sprint, KTM rider Jack Miller got the best jump from the front row, and this time he was able to cover off polesitter Marco Bezzecchi at Turn 1.

Behind them, Bagnaia had contact with Alex Marquez after getting ahead of the sprint winner, yet he then lined up and overtook Bezzecchi coming into Vale.

Bezzecchi replied the next time by into Brooklands, but Bagnaia was again through coming out of Woodcote – and so good was his run that he then immediately claimed the lead from Miller coming out of Copse.

And with Bezzecchi then picking off Miller into Stowe, it allowed the Ducati duo to monopolise the lead battle in the early going.

However, while chasing after Bagnaia, Bezzecchi came in too hot into Stowe on the sixth tour and tucked the front, in a considerable blow to his title hopes and his first non-score since Jerez three months ago.

1062508

Almost immediately after Bezzecchi’s exit, though, Bagnaia had a different problem in his hands in the form of Espargaro.

The Aprilia rider ran behind team-mate Maverick Vinales early on, but when Marquez overtook Miller coming into Copse Vinales tried to slot into the gap as well – and instead took himself wide and Miller off-track.

This meant fourth place for Espargaro, and he quickly turned that into third by working his way past Marquez at Village. Then, once Bezzecchi slid off, it took Espargaro virtually no time to negate a one-second deficit to Bagnaia.

Getting clear of him, though, predictably proved a much sterner challenge, and with Espargaro tucked in behind Bagnaia Vinales closed back in too – while dragging KTM’s Brad Binder along with him after overtaking the South African at Village.

Neither of them had to clear Marquez as by that point he had retired with an apparent gear selection issue, a potential knock-on effect from the contact with Bagnaia.

As that went on, minor rain drops prompted race direction to display rain flags, allowing for riders to swap to their wet-tyre-shod bikes in the pitlane. And a few laps later, just as the quartet bunched up hugely up front, rain drops started to fall much more prominently.

Bagnaia was given breathing room in the meantime by Vinales overtaking Espargaro but then slowing up amid the rain threat, with both Aprilia riders dropping behind Binder.

But with four laps to go Espargaro reclaimed second place from Binder at Village – and again swiftly arrived on the back of Bagnaia.

This time, the overtake was on – Espargaro drawing alongside of Bagnaia on the exit of Copse on the final lap, squeezing him towards the border of the track and just nipping ahead entering Maggots.

Bagnaia kept him company over the rest of the lap, but Espargaro covered him off successfully to win by 0.215s.

The battle for the final podium spot was even closer than that, but it was not between Binder and Vinales – but rather between Binder and a charging Miguel Oliveira, the RNF Aprilia rider absolutely on song in the tricky conditions and flying through from 16th on the grid.

But Binder ultimately rebuffed Oliveira’s charge to finish 0.070s clear in third, while Vinales settled for fifth behind them.

Jorge Martin salvaged sixth from a race that looked, for all intents and purposes, ruined at the opening corner, when contact with Binder’s KTM sent his Pramac-run Ducati off the track and to the back of the pack.

The top 10 was completed by VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini, Miller, Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco and RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez – three tenths clear of Augusto Fernandez, the rookie salvaging an acceptable haul for Tech3 Gas Gas after losing 11 places on the opening lap.

Zarco was one of two riders to take the soft rear – rather than the conventional choice of medium rear – for the 20-lapper, and his pace clearly dropped off, as did fellow gambler Enea Bastianini’s.

Bastianini, however, didn’t get to pick up any points. He was hit by Marc Marquez’s Honda in the battle for 10th place, Marquez crashing out on the spot and Bastianini bringing his damaged Ducati into the pits to retire.

Pol Espargaro scored 12th place on his return from injury, the Tech3 Gas Gas man taking it at a leisurely pace but benefitting massively from riders ahead of him taking an ill-advised punt on wet tyres.

Those riders were Fabio Di Giannantonio, Franco Morbidelli, Takaaki Nakagami and Iker Lecuona, with the first two even salvaging some points thanks to attrition.

They were also both promoted one spot by a clumsy accident for Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo late on. Quartararo was fighting in the top 10 when he clipped Marini’s Ducati, mangling his own front fairing and having some of it get stuck in his front wheel.

Yet he managed to return to the pits, swap bikes and even ultimately finished 15th, picking up a point.

The only other retirement was Joan Mir, crashing his Honda three laps into the race.

Bezzecchi’s exit means Martin is now again the closest rival to Bagnaia in the standings, but the reigning champion is now 41 points clear, with only 37 available per race weekend.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 20 1 40m40.367s 2m0.208s 0 30
2 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 20 18 +0.215s 2m0.537s 0 20
3 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +0.68s 2m0.45s 0 17
4 Miguel Oliveira CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 20 0 +0.75s 2m0.672s 0 13
5 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 20 0 +2.101s 2m0.339s 0 18
6 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 20 0 +7.903s 2m0.981s 0 14
7 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 20 0 +9.099s 2m0.87s 0 9
8 Jack Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 1 +9.298s 2m01.393s 0 11
9 Johann Zarco Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 20 0 +9.958s 2m0.451s 0 13
10 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 20 0 +19.947s 2m0.857s 0 6
11 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM 20 0 +20.296s 2m01.21s 0 7
12 Pol Espargaró GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 KTM 20 0 +1m06.12s 2m02.041s 0 4
13 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 20 0 +1m27.605s 2m0.863s 0 3
14 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 20 0 +1m28.913s 2m0.979s 0 2
15 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 20 0 +1m29.075s 2m01.068s 0 1
16 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 20 0 +1m38.573s 2m02.008s 0 0
17 Iker Lecuona Repsol Honda Team Honda 20 0 +1m49.674s 2m02.056s 0 0
Enea Bastianini Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 16 0 DNF 2m01.321s 0 0
Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 14 0 DNF 2m01.013s 0 0
Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 5 0 DNF 2m0.563s 0 9
Alex Marquez Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 5 0 DNF 2m0.634s 0 12
Joan Mir Repsol Honda Team Honda 2 0 DNF 2m03.57s 0 0
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks