Raúl Fernández secures first GP win of the season at Silverstone
Written by Isha Reshmi Mohan
The summer break has finally come to an end, and we’ve wrapped up the race weekend at Silverstone with Raúl Fernández taking his first win of the season. Here’s everything that unfolded during the session.
Sprint Report
Jorge Martin started from pole and converted it into a sprint win with ease, but there was plenty of action going on behind him.
Turn 4 on Lap 1 saw Cal Crutchlow crash at home, although he managed to rejoin before eventually retiring on Lap 4. Iker Lecuona too followed at Turn 16 on Lap 2, dropping him to last.
After a stunning qualifying performance that had him looking set for a guaranteed Top 10 finish, a small tap from Morbidelli sent him down. Race control found no offence on Morbidelli's part and Lecuona did not rejoin.
Raúl Fernández was the next to go down at Turn 4 on Lap 4, allowing Alex Marquez to join the fight for fourth alongside Bezzecchi and Marc.
Up front, Ogura in second was closing in on Martin while the rest of the grid struggled to catch up. That left the fight for third wide open in the final four laps, with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Bezzecchi battling it out, the Márquez brothers close behind and Pedro Acosta edging closer to the mix.
Bezzecchi eventually came out on top to take third and complete an all-Aprilia podium. With two laps remaining, Moreira was also making progress further down the order, moving into tenth after passing Fabio Quartararo and Luca Marini.
Acosta made his move on his future teammate to take sixth, while Marc dropped another position to Joan Mir as rear tyre struggles continued to hurt his pace. He finished ninth, just ahead of Moreira, while Álex managed to get past Di Giannantonio for fourth.
The result gave Aprilia a clean sweep of the podium, while Yamaha endured a difficult sprint with all of its riders finishing outside the Top 10.
Race Report
Right from Turn 1, there was a shake-up in the order compared to the sprint session. Martin dropped to third, with Fernández shooting straight ahead and Bezzecchi making his way from fifth to second, keeping an Aprilia top three intact. Meanwhile, Mir crashed at Turn 7 while battling in the mix with Àlex Rins.
As Fernández pulled ahead, Acosta worked his way up to fifth, slotting himself between the Márquez brothers. By Lap 5, Álex took Acosta’s fifth place and began chasing down Marc, with Acosta still close behind. Ai Ogura followed, along with the two VR46 riders, while Brad Binder rounded out the top 10 after pushing Quartararo out.
Lap 6 brought more drama, with Enea Bastianini crashing at Turn 17 after making contact with the tarmac. Another crash followed at Turn 13, this time involving Lecuona. The following lap saw Marc drop behind the mini battle, but he was still not pulling away from the pack.
Crutchlow then crashed at Turn 7 on Lap 7, followed by Bagnaia the next lap, bringing the crash count to six in under 10 laps.
As they entered Lap 10, Bezzecchi briefly lost his podium position as Álex closed in on third. Acosta capitalised on the moment, moving up to fourth after Álex slipped up and lost two places. But Álex’s pace was clear, and it didn’t take long for him to fight his way back into fourth.
With the race beginning to settle, the winner looked almost certain, leaving the main fight for third between Bezzecchi and Álex. Di Giannantonio also began making his way up the order, moving into seventh and closing in on Marc, while Morbidelli held ninth with Marini right behind and looking for a way through.
As the chequered flag fell, Aprilia secured a slightly different podium lockout from the Sprint session, with Bezzecchi holding on to third. The final laps also saw a brief battle between Di Giannantonio and Acosta for fifth, but Acosta ultimately held his ground. A new winner at Silverstone and a much-needed entertaining race after the long break.
Although we’ve just come off a month-long break, MotoGP will be going away for another break before we see the bikes back on track at the Aragon Grand Prix. Be sure to catch all the action on the 30th of August at 1pm BST.
Comments