London
32 °C
Manchester
Glasgow
31 °C
Dublin
22 °C
Belfast
Washington
Denver
30 °C
Atlanta
30 °C
Dallas
Houston Texas
New Orleans
El Paso
Phoenix
Los Angeles
9 °C
25 °C
Raul Fernandez wins British MotoGP Grand Prix / Photo: Glyn KIRK - AFP
Raul Fernandez wins British MotoGP Grand Prix
Aprilia-Trackhouse's Spanish rider Raul Fernandez won the British MotoGP Grand Prix on Sunday, claiming just the second race victory of his career.
Championship leader Jorge Martin started on pole but was outpaced from the flag by his 25-year-old compatriot. Martin finished second with Italian Marco Bezzecchi rounding off the podium.
Fernandez led all 20 laps of the Silverstone circuit from start to finish after Martin got off to a poor start, possibly due to a mechanical problem following a shower of sparks from the rear.
Fernandez is the 12th different winner at Silverstone in 12 Grand Prix races on the legendary course, which also hosts Formula One Grands Prix.
It was nonetheless a fine weekend for 2024 world champion and Silverstone sprint winner Martin as he grew his lead in the overall standings to 31 points.
Japan's Ai Ogura, who had started second on the grid and was sitting second overall, slid off midway through the race and now trails Martin by 37 points.
Instead Martin's Aprilia teammate Bezzecchi is now his principal challenger for the title following a heroic weekend after he had spent the summer break recovering from a collarbone fracture suffered in qualifying at the Germany MotoGP last month.
Spain's Alex Marquez of Ducati-Gresini finished fourth, ahead of KTM's Spaniard Pedro Acosta and Italy's Fabio Di Giannantonio of Ducati satellite team VR46.
Reigning world champion Marc Marquez of Spain, on his factory Ducati, finished only seventh.
A.Harris--SMC
