Alex Rins pulls off the perfect last corner to take victory from Marc Marquez at the British MotoGP, as a first corner clash between Fabio Quartararo and Andrea Dovizioso saw both riders tumble out.
Alex Rins has produced the perfect last corner attack to take victory off Marc Marquez at the British MotoGP, as a first corner clash between Fabio Quartararo and Andrea Dovizioso saw both riders tumble out.
In a thrilling Silverstone encounter, Marquez kept the measure of his Suzuki rival throughout the 20-lap race with Rins struggling to find a way past the Repsol Honda rider.
Knowing he couldn't keep the lead entering a long Silverstone straight due to the Honda's superior acceleration and top speed, 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 tyre wear late on, also suffered a rear tyre slide to lose vital momentum to see Rins take victory by 0.013s - marking the second consecutive race the reigning MotoGP world champion has lost at the final corner.
Despite having to settle for second place, Marquez still extends his championship lead to a dominant 78 points following a disaster start for Quartararo and Dovizioso.
The MotoGP rookie crashed out on the exit of the first corner, potentially unsettled by an out of the seat moment for Rins directly ahead of him, with the luckless Dovizioso collected by the the French rider's Petronas Yamaha bike on the outside of the corner.
Dovizioso was stretchered off track and taken to the medical centre, while his Ducati caught fire with a full fuel tank, as Quartararo cut a dejected figure knowing he'd lost his best opportunity of a victory in his maiden premier class campaign.
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.
Franco Morbidelli equalled his MotoGP career best result with fifth place comfortably ahead of LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow who held off a late race charge from Danilo Petrucci on the factory Ducati.
Jack Miller claimed eighth place on the Pramac Ducati with Pol Espargaro securing his best result for Red Bull KTM since Mugello in ninth place.
Andrea Iannone was another to equal his season best with 10th place for Aprilia ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati), Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) and Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3).
Jorge Lorenzo battled through his injury comeback for Repsol Honda to take 14th place as Karel Abraham completed the points places for Avintia Ducati.
Tito Rabat remounted after falling on Lap 6 to take 16th place for Avintia Ducati, while Takaaki Nakagami was another faller to remount and finish in 17th place.
Aleix Espargaro suffered a heart-breaking late issue for Aprilia with a lap to go, while Miguel Oliveira and Johann Zarco clashed on Lap 10 which took both riders out of the race.