MotoGP finale
Live Text
Sort by
Oliveira fights on, he repasses Vazquez for the lead once again.
Binder has caught the back of the lead pack to make it a nine-way fight - Vazquez, Oliveira, Navarro, Antonelli, Kornfeil, Fenati, McPhee, Ono, Binder is the order now. Kent is still behind Bastianini and Vinales in 12th.
Vazquez, once again, grabs the lead from Oliviera, who is then pushed back to third by Navarro too. Twelve laps left. Navarro passes Vazquez for the lead now.
Just ahead of Kent, Isaac (cousin of Maverick) Vinales and Bastianini are doing a fair bit of place-swapping. There's a good gap behind Kent now so he needn't get involved.
Vazquez steams back past Oliveira for the lead, but only for a few corners before the title chaser reclaims it.
Crash
Hanika is walking shakily through the gravel. Replays show he had an absolute monster of a high-side and landed head first. Nasty.
Red Bull-backed Hanika has a crash, and Quartararo has pulled into the pits. They were both behind Kent.
Oliveira is back into the lead, with Fenati pushed back to fourth as Vazquez and Navarro come through too.
Oliveira is attacked by both Vazquez and Navarro down the pits straight but brakes latest into Turn 1 and keeps second.
Kent remains 12th. His next target is erstwhile title rival Bastianini.
Kent remains 12th. His next target is erstwhile title rival Bastianini.
There's still a train of 27 bikes running basically nose to tail for the lead of this.
Oliveira runs a bit wide and Fenati snatches the lead from him. Oliveira second, Kent 12th...
Fenati takes a little look at Oliveira for the lead but the Portuguese remains ahead. Kent is now up to 12th, diving past Karel Hanika.
Kent outbrakes Quartararo and takes 13th. That's a little bit safer still. Seventeen laps left.
Oliveira reclaims the lead into Turn 1, and Fenati follows him to demote Navarro to third. It's Vazquez, Niccolo Antonelli, Jakub Kornfeil, Hiroki Ono and McPhee up next.
We're on lap seven of 24. It's looking OK for Kent but far from comfortable.
Navarro ducks out of the slipstream and takes the lead from Oliveira. Kent is on Quartararo's tail for 13th, and with Migno and Bagnaia fighting behind him, 14th looks a little safer. But little is safe in the middle of a Moto3 gaggle.
Vazquez is now back to third between Navarro and Fenati. Kent is close behind Quartararo now but remains 14th.
Three-abreast for the lead - Oliveira loses second to Navarro then passes both Navarro and Vazquez in one move to reclaim first place.
Oliveira steams back inside Vazquez, who carries enough momentum around the outside to stay in the lead.
Navarro takes Fenati for third, McPhee is fifth behind them.
Navarro takes Fenati for third, McPhee is fifth behind them.
Replays from the on-board camera show Kent looking back nervously. Focus forward, Danny! He remains in the crucial 14th, between Quartararo and Migno.
Vazquez slipstreams past Oliveira and into the lead. Fenati is right in the thick of this too.
Thumbs up from the pit crew for Oliveira, he's doing everything right so far - though with Kent still 14th it won't be enough.
Vazquez is back up to second ahead of Fenati and McPhee. The fight for second is the usual wild place-swapping Moto3 stuff, Oliveira is doing an exceptional job to keep his nose out front so far.
Vazquez is back up to second ahead of Fenati and McPhee. The fight for second is the usual wild place-swapping Moto3 stuff, Oliveira is doing an exceptional job to keep his nose out front so far.
Tiny bit of pressure off for Kent as Bagnaia and Andrea Migno fight behind him. But sitting in 14th is not a comfortable place to be with the entire Moto3 field still pretty much in one long train.
Kent has big pressure behind him from Pecco Bagnaia as they chase Fabio Quartararo for 13th.
Kent is up to 14th. Long, long way to go, though.
Vazquez was briefly up to second before Fenati and McPhee muscled past him. Vazquez could do Leopard team-mate Kent a big favour by winning.
It's Fenati, Vazquez, McPhee, Bastianini and rising star Jorge Navarro lining up beside Olveira, who has been reeled back in. It's very, very hard to break the tow and escape in Moto3. Kent remains 15th.
Oliveira has a bit of clear air behind him already. But that's another place gained for Kent, he's now 15th.
Green flag
Oliveira is straight into the lead off the line, but Kent is already up to 16th. McPhee fell to fourth.
Rossi is perched on the pitwall to watch the start of Moto3, as usual.
Let's not forget Racing Steps Foundation backed young Scot John McPhee, he starts on pole today ahead of Valentino Rossi's protege Romano Fenati and Vazquez.
And as Kent's Leopard Racing team-mate Efren Vazquez said yesterday, if the Brit does win the title in a slightly lacklustre way, no one's going to remember how he did it in a few months or years. They'll just remember he was champion.
Yesterday Kent changed his gearbox set-up for qualifying and kept hitting the limiter on the straights, which left him so far back on the grid. But whatever Oliveira does, Kent just needs 14th. And it's victory or nothing for Oliveira.
Meanwhile, Oliveira - who will be Kent's team-mate in Moto2 next season - has won three of the last four races.
At the start of the year, Kent could no no wrong. He was even winning Moto3 races by 10 seconds, which is usually unheard of.
A few bits of mid-season bad luck allowed Enea Bastianini to close in, but Kent sorted that with a superb win at a wet Silverstone that seemed to put him back on the brink of becoming Britain's first grand prix motorcycle racing world champion since Barry Sheene in 1977.
But crashing when second at Aragon - moments after Bastianini had fallen too - put Kent back under pressure, and since then he's struggled to know how to balance aggression and caution in the races. The man who used to have the opposition unnerved now keeps finding himself muscled back in the crucial final laps.
A few bits of mid-season bad luck allowed Enea Bastianini to close in, but Kent sorted that with a superb win at a wet Silverstone that seemed to put him back on the brink of becoming Britain's first grand prix motorcycle racing world champion since Barry Sheene in 1977.
But crashing when second at Aragon - moments after Bastianini had fallen too - put Kent back under pressure, and since then he's struggled to know how to balance aggression and caution in the races. The man who used to have the opposition unnerved now keeps finding himself muscled back in the crucial final laps.
Danny Kent had a 70-point lead not so long ago. Now that's down to 24 points, with 25 available today.
Still sounds simple... but he's down in 18th on the grid after a tough qualifying session, while his title rival Miguel Oliveira - a man on a brilliant run at the moment - starts fourth.
Still sounds simple... but he's down in 18th on the grid after a tough qualifying session, while his title rival Miguel Oliveira - a man on a brilliant run at the moment - starts fourth.
But before all that. Moto3...
Jorge Lorenzo: MotoGP championship chaser, starting first
Valentino Rossi: MotoGP leader starting 26th and last
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
