Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro clinched his second MotoGP victory after a thrilling last-lap showdown with Francesco Bagnaia in a dramatic British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Light rain on the final few laps blew the race wide open, with a five-way fight developing between Bagnaia, Espargaro, Brad Binder, Miguel Oliveira and Maverick Viñales.

World champion Bagnaia, who led for the majority of the 20-lap race, looked in control until the final lap, when Espargaro toughed out a pass into Maggots on the factory Aprilia.

The 34-year-old defended his lines to keep Bagnaia at bay, securing a hard-fought win by two tenths of a second.

Binder (Red Bull KTM) held off Oliveira to seal the final rostrum spot as the quartet were covered by 0.750s at the finish, while Viñales dropped out of the podium fight, settling for fifth, 2.1s behind race winner Espargaro.

In an incident-filled race, title challenger Marco Bezzecchi crashed out on the VR46 Ducati as he battled with Bagnaia for the lead, with his championship prospects taking a hit.

Sprint race winner Alex Marquez was forced out with a problem on the Gresini Ducati after running in third, while Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Joan Mir, and Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) were among the fallers. Marquez clipped the rear of Bastianini’s Ducati.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo lost his front fairing after a collision with Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati), forcing the former world champion into pit lane after he was lying in eighth position.

After a damp Sprint race on Saturday, the main event began in the dry, with Australia’s Jack Miller blasting into the lead on the Red Bull KTM from Bezzecchi, while Bagnaia made a strong start from fourth on the second row.

Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin ran off the track at the first corner after contact with Binder and dropped down the order.

Bagnaia passed Bezzecchi to go second with Alex Marquez third ahead of Viñales and Aleix Espargaro.

Championship leader Bagnaia took the lead from Miller on lap two, with Bezzecchi following through.

Miller then dropped to 14^th place after he was pushed off the track following contact with Viñales at Turn 9, re-joining in 14^th.

With Bagnaia leading Bezzecchi by just under one second on lap six, Marquez’s hopes came to an abrupt end when he pulled over on his satellite Ducati with a problem, before retiring in the pits.

Bezzecchi, second in the Sprint race, then crashed out after losing the front of his Ducati under braking into Turn 15 as he tried to close on Bagnaia. He has now slipped to third in the standings behind Martin, 47 points down on Bagnaia.

Espargaro was promoted to second and began to close in on Bagnaia, who had a narrow lead of 0.495s. Binder was looming in third with Viñales in hot pursuit.

At half distance, Oliveira was the fastest man on the circuit on the RNF Aprilia as he began to close the leading group after passing Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) and quickly putting daylight between himself and the Frenchman.

With seven laps to go, the rain flags were displayed and the leading quartet quickly closed up, with less than a second covering Bagnaia, Espargaro, Viñales and Binder.

Monster Energy Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli was one of the riders who gambled on pulling into the pits to change to wet tyres, but ultimately it proved the wrong decision.

Bagnaia continued to lead the way as the podium battle behind him intensified, with Oliveira joining the group with three laps to go as the rain became slightly heavier in places.

Oliveira was lapping four tenths faster than Bagnaia as he moved up to third past Binder and Viñales, but while it seemed for a moment that the Portuguese rider had the pace to challenge for a dream victory, Bagnaia and Espargaro began to up the ante as they fought it out at the front.

Binder wasn’t finished and re-passed Oliveira for third, but the outcome came down to a final lap duel between Bagnaia and Espargaro, with the Spanish rider – who started from 12th on the grid – coming  out on top.

Binder grabbed a podium ahead of Oliveira, with Aprilia’s Viñales cast adrift in fifth.

Martin, who ran off the track at the first corner, was sixth ahead of Marini and Miller in eighth.

Zarco and Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) rounded out the top ten, while Pol Espargaro (GASGAS Tech3 KTM) was 12^th behind team-mate Augusto Fernandez as he completed his first race of the season following a heavy crash at Portimao in Portugal.

Morbidelli was 14^th while Quartararo, who re-joined the race on wet tyres, earned the last point in 15^th.

Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and team-mate Iker Lecuona – deputising for the injured Alex Rins – were the final finishers in 16^th and 17^th respectively at round nine.

2023 Monster Energy British Grand Prix
Sunday August 6, 2023