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British MotoGP: Quartararo wins, Espargaro earns Aprilia historic podium

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo dealt a hammer blow to his championship rival after dominating the MotoGP British Grand Prix, while Aleix Espargaro took a historic third for Aprilia.

Race winner Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing, second place Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP, third place Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Race winner Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing, second place Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP, third place Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Quartararo took the lead on lap five of 20 and eased away from the rest of the field to open up a gap of 65 points in the championship over reigning world champion Joan Mir, who was ninth in the race.

Honda’s Pol Espargaro converted his first pole for the Japanese marque into the holeshot at the start with Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia slotting in behind.

After a sluggish launch, Francesco Bagnaia threw his Ducati up the inside of Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro take briefly take second from them, while drama unfolded behind.

After a near-miss at Stowe between Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez, the Honda rider made contact with Martin at Club corner and took both out of the race.

Aleix Espargaro took second away from Bagnaia at Brooklands at the end of the first lap to make it an Espargaro 1-2 as the leaders roared onto the second tour.

The top four of Pol and Aleix Espargaro, Bagnaia and Quartararo already had six tenths between themselves and the pack behind on the second lap.

Quartararo demoted Bagnaia on the following tour before passing Aleix Espargaro moments later to lead the chase on the Honda-mounted Pol Espargaro.

On lap five Quartararo scythed up the inside of Pol Espargaro at the fast Farm left kink to take the lead, with the Yamaha rider immediately moving six tenths out of reach now in clean air.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Aleix Espargaro found his way through on Pol at the Vale on lap six, but Quartararo was easing away at the front and would quickly find himself over three seconds clear.

Able to manage his tyres at the front of the field, Quartararo eased to his fifth win of a 2021 campaign he is fast taking control of.

Suzuki’s Alex Rins had worked his way up to second at just over mid-distance and stage-managed his race from that point to keep a hold of the runner up spot.

Jack Miller put on a late charge for the podium on his factory Ducati and piled the pressure on Aleix Espargaro in the closing stages.

The Australian launched a raid on third into the Village corner on the final lap, but Espargaro drew alongside on the outside and cut back underneath Miller at the Loop to retake the position.

Running a defensive line through Brooklands and Club, Espargaro fended Miller off by 0.149 seconds to secure the first-ever podium for Aprilia in the modern MotoGP era – and Espargaro’s first in the premier class since Aragon 2014.

Pol Espargaro completed the top five for his best result of his debut Honda season, with Brad Binder making a late charge for sixth on the factory KTM.

Iker Lecuona trailed Binder home in seventh on the Tech3 KTM to secure his best-ever dry MotoGP result, while Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) headed Mir and the sister Tech3 KTM of Danilo Petrucci.

Johann Zarco had a difficult afternoon in 11th on the Pramac Ducati, with Avintia’s Enea Bastianini and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami shuffling Bagnaia back to a mystifying 14th.

The final point went to the sister Avintia Ducati of Luca Marini, while KTM’s Miguel Oliveira, Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow and Petronas SRT duo Valentino Rossi and Jake Dixon rounded out the 19 classified finishers.

British MotoGP race results - 20 laps 

Cla Rider Bike Time Gap
1 France Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 40'20.579  
2 Spain Alex Rins Suzuki 40'23.242 2.663
3 Spain Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 40'24.684 4.105
4 Australia Jack Miller Ducati 40'24.833 4.254
5 Spain Pol Espargaro Honda 40'29.041 8.462
6 South Africa Brad Binder KTM 40'32.768 12.189
7 Spain Iker Lecuona KTM 40'34.139 13.560
8 Spain Alex Marquez Honda 40'34.623 14.044
9 Spain Joan Mir Suzuki 40'36.805 16.226
10 Italy Danilo Petrucci KTM 40'36.866 16.287
11 France Johann Zarco Ducati 40'36.918 16.339
12 Italy Enea Bastianini Ducati 40'38.275 17.696
13 Japan Takaaki Nakagami Honda 40'38.864 18.285
14 Italy Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 40'41.492 20.913
15 Italy Luca Marini Ducati 40'41.597 21.018
16 Portugal Miguel Oliveira KTM 40'42.601 22.022
17 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow Yamaha 40'43.811 23.232
18 Italy Valentino Rossi Yamaha 40'50.337 29.758
19 United Kingdom Jake Dixon Yamaha 41'11.424 50.845
  Spain Jorge Martin Ducati 3'11.159 19 Laps
  Spain Marc Marquez Honda    

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