Rins nips Marquez at the line at Silverstone

Alex Rins snookers Marquez
Alex Rins snookers Marquez

Alex Rins timed his last corner attack to perfection and stole the win from Marc Marquez at the British MotoGP.

For all the last 200 yards Marquez kept his Suzuki rival at bay for the entire 20-lap race with Rins struggling to find a way past the Repsol Honda rider.

Rins made his charge for glory starting on the outside of the final corner to get the drive to the finish line charging up the inside.

Marquez, battling tire wear late on, also got loose and lost vital momentum to enable Rins to take victory by 0.013s – marking it the second consecutive race Marquez lost at the final corner.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Despite having to settle for second place, Marquez still extends his championship lead to a dominant 78 points following a disaster start for Fabio Quartararo and Andrea Dovizioso – as a first corner clash between Quartararo and Dovizioso saw both riders tumble out..

The MotoGP rookie crashed out on the exit of the first corner and collected Dovizioso.

Dovizioso was stretchered off track and taken to the medical Centre, while his Ducati caught fire with a full fuel tank.

Without Quartararo and Dovizioso in contention, Marquez and Rins began their race-long victory scrap which would last until the final corner.

Behind the front two, Maverick Vinales ran out of laps to catch the leaders despite his strong late race pace meaning he had to take third place six-tenths of a second back for Monster Yamaha.

Valentino Rossi endured a mid-race fade after dropping behind his Yamaha team-mate meaning he had to settle for fourth place and over 10 seconds back at the finish.

How it Happened

Marquez leads at the start
Marquez leads at the start

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 on Lap 1. Dovi headed to the medical centre for a checkup after landing heavily and was later transported to Coventry hospital, confirmation that 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 second place Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), 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 4, the leading duo were over a second clear, with the gap to Rossi stretching lap by lap as Vi nales smelt blood on his teammate. Lap 6 ticked by and Vi nales 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. Sector 1 and 3 looked like the areas where Rins had an edge on the number 93 and on Lap 8, 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 Vi nales 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 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, Vi nales was still hovering at 1.5 seconds back.

It was a race long battle between Marquez and Rins
It was a race long battle between Marquez and Rins

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 back from Rins – surely Vi nales 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 – Roberts and 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! Later on, Rins revealed he thought it was the last lap on the penultimate lap…

Vi nales 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 P4. 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) takes a P6 away from Silverstone after starting from ninth, the Coventry-born rider held off a late charge from Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and close friend Jack Miller (Pramac Racing). The Ducatis finished seventh and eighth respectively, as Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) 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 Olveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) crashed out at The Loop with 12 to go, with Aleix Esparagro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) the other non-finisher.

Results

POS RIDER NAT TEAM BEHIND
1 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.000s
2 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.013s
3 Maverick Vinales SPA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.620s
4 Valentino Rossi ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +11.439s
5 Franco Morbidelli ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +13.109s
6 Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) +19.169s
7 Danilo Petrucci ITA Mission Winnow Ducati (GP19) +19.682s
8 Jack Miller AUS Pramac Ducati (GP19) +20.318s
9 Pol Espargaro SPA Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) +21.079s
10 Andrea Iannone ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +25.144s
11 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Pramac Ducati (GP18)* +40.317s
12 Sylvain Guintoli FRA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +45.478s
13 Hafizh Syahrin MAL Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) +54.783s
14 Jorge Lorenzo SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +56.651s
15 Karel Abraham CZE Reale Avintia Ducati (GP18) +89.282s
16 Tito Rabat SPA Reale Avintia Ducati (GP18) +91.716s
17 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +100.420s
DNF Aleix Espargaro SPA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF
DNF Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)* DNF
DNF Johann Zarco FRA Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) DNF
DNF Fabio Quartararo FRA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)* DNF
DNF Andrea Dovizioso ITA Mission Winnow Ducati (GP19) DNF

* Rookie.

Rider Standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Constructor
1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 250 Honda
2 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 172 Ducati
3 RINS Alex 42 SPA 149 Suzuki
4 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 145 Ducati
5 VINALES Maverick 12 SPA 118 Yamaha
6 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 116 Yamaha
7 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 94 Ducati
8 QUARTARARO Fabio 20 FRA 92 Yamaha
9 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 88 Honda
10 MORBIDELLI Franco 21 ITA 69 Yamaha
11 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 68 KTM
12 NAKAGAMI Takaaki 30 JPN 62 Honda
13 MIR Joan 36 SPA 39 Suzuki
14 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 33 Aprilia
15 BAGNAIA Francesco 63 ITA 29 Ducati
16 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 27 Aprilia
17 OLIVEIRA Miguel 88 POR 26 KTM
18 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA 22 KTM
19 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 21 Honda
20 BRADL Stefan 6 GER 16 Honda
21 RABAT Tito 53 SPA 14 Ducati
22 PIRRO Michele 51 ITA 9 Ducati
23 GUINTOLI Sylvain 50 FRA 7 Suzuki
24 SYAHRIN Hafizh 55 MAL 6 KTM
25 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE 5 Ducati