Bezzecchi takes shock win for Aprilia

Marco Bezzecchi produced a masterpiece of tyre management to win the MotoGP British Grand Prix for Aprilia, after Fabio Quartararo suffered mechanical heartbreak while leading.

The Italian executed his soft-tyre gamble to perfection to claim victory by four seconds over fellow gambler Johann Zarco (Honda) and Marc Marquez (Ducati), who extended his points lead over Alex Marquez, who finished in fifth, to 24 points.

The win provided a timely boost for Aprilia, which had not won a grand prix for over a year and is currently embroiled in controversy around the future of its other factory rider, Jorge Martin.

Quartararo had looked set to romp to victory after following the same tyre strategy as Bezzecchi, but his Yamaha hit technical trouble when he had a comfortable lead on lap 12.

The latest dramatic British GP began immediately after the original start, when Alex Marquez crashed out of the lead as he began to tip his GP25 into the gentle first corner. This unusual incident appeared to confirm fears that riders would struggle to get their tyres up to temperature in the cold temperatures at Silverstone – particularly the medium front Alex had chosen along with most others.

The accident left Marc Marquez (also on the medium front) in the lead over Quartararo – until Marc sensationally lost the front end at Maggotts on the second lap.

But the Marquez brothers were to get a reprieve. Moments after Marc’s accident, the red flags flew at Silverstone – due to a slippery substance having been discovered on the track at Vale. That had been the scene of another accident, involving Franco Morbidelli (VR46) and Aleix Espargaro (Honda), at the end of the first lap.

The stoppage allowed both Marquez brothers time to return to the pits and grab their spare bikes for the restart. The tyre choices across the grid, however, remained much the same.

Those to opt for soft front rubber, which would be easier to get up to temperature but was unproven over a race distance, were inevitably the ones with little to lose. This included poleman Quartararo, who knew he could not compete over a race distance without a strategic advantage. Other notables on the soft front were Jack Miller (lining up sixth), Zarco (starting ninth) and Bezzecchi, who had only qualified 10th.

Quartararo duly claimed the lead over a cautious Alex and Marc Marquez shortly after the lights turned green for the second time. And it wasn’t long before the soft-shod racers began to work their way into his wake.

While Bezzecchi appeared to take a relatively cautious approach to the opening laps, perhaps with tyre life in mind, Miller and Zarco were up into second and third by lap four. The question at this point was whether they would be able to make their rubber last for the revised race distance of 19 laps.

Indeed, Miller began a slow fade through the field as early as lap six – though it was Bezzecchi who relieved him of second place. Shortly after, Zarco followed him past the Pramac Yamaha. It was still a 1-2-3 for the soft front tyre, but Bezzecchi was now in the reckoning.

That said, Quartararo was five seconds in the lead at the start of lap eight and looked a reasonable bet to manage both that advantage and his tyres until the chequered flag.

Alas, his Yamaha had other ideas, and he was left disconsolate at the side of the track after having to park it with seven laps still to go.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

That promoted Bezzecchi and Zarco into first and second respectively – at which point Bezzecchi put the hammer down and pulled out a gap over the man who had won last time out in France. These two held station until the end, despite visible tyre wear in the case of Zarco.

Marc Marquez battled through a busy afternoon in the pack, in which different riders were fast at different times depending on their rubber choice and wear. He ultimately grabbed third place despite Morbidelli’s every effort to relieve him of it in a pulsating battle throughout the final lap.

Alex Marquez came home a close fifth behind Morbidelli, ensuring the damage to his championship hopes was far less than he would have feared when he fell at the first start.

Pedro Acosta (KTM), also running the soft front, got around Miller late in the race to take sixth, with Luca Marini (Honda), Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46) rounding out the top 10.

Bagnaia’s second start went well and he led Marc in the early stages, but their speed and comfort started to diverge dramatically after both ran wide at Copse on lap four, dropping them to the back of the top 10.

While Marc set about his recovery ride, Bagnaia went backwards from there and fell on the next lap. He remains third in the championship, but is now a yawning 72 points behind team-mate Marc Marquez.

MotoGP British GP – Race results