Bagnaia wins, Viñales gets on the podium and Espargaró minimizes the damage

Pecco Bagnaia joins the fight for the title again with his victory at Silverstone, his fourth victory of the year -who has won the most-, and the stumble of the leader, a Fabio Quartararo who could only be 8th.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
07 August 2022 Sunday 10:55
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Bagnaia wins, Viñales gets on the podium and Espargaró minimizes the damage

Pecco Bagnaia joins the fight for the title again with his victory at Silverstone, his fourth victory of the year -who has won the most-, and the stumble of the leader, a Fabio Quartararo who could only be 8th. Although the moral winner of the British GP was Aleix Espargaró, who only gave up a point to the Devil with his 9th place. He remains the only driver to score points in every race, and he still has the title fight wide open. The other name of the day was Maverick Viñales, second in a superb finish.

Finally, Aleix Espargaró took the start to compete, despite both feet hurting from the hard fall on Saturday. The one from Granollers was tested in the morning warm-up, did 9 laps and was 6th, close to Quartararo. Would he sign it at the finish line? Accompanied by his wife and his assistant Joan from him on the grid, Aleix concentrated with music to face the 20 laps of the race.

As all five traffic lights went out, Zarco maintained the lead position on pole, Quartararo made a big jump, from 4th to 2nd, and Viñales fell back from second to 6th, with Aleix Espargaró losing two positions, from 6 .º to 8th, although he soon overtook Martín to take 7th. The best at the start was a spectacular Rins, from 11th to 5th passing through the outside.

Zarco and Quartararo began to pull hard with the intention of escaping. Although the Yamaha rider had to pay the penalty of the long lap that he was dragging from his Assen sanction for taking Espargaró off the track. El Diablo chose the fourth lap to do it, then with Aleix somewhat off the hook, 8th, surpassed by Martín, who had just set a new circuit record.

At turn 14, where the loop extension of the long lap is, Quartararo lost only three positions, which he gave up to Miller, Rins and Bagnaia. He was separated from Aleix by Viñales and Martín.

Then the race was revolutionized. On lap five, Zarco lost control of his Ducati at turn 8, going down and losing the lead, which was picked up by Miller. The Aussie soon experienced a boiling Rins wearing him down, which the Suzuki slammed into him and he took the lead on Lap 6.

The threat for the Barcelonan from Nou Barris, more than Miller and Bagnaia, or Quartararo who was fourth, was a Jorge Martín who arrived launched like a plane. He overtook the Frenchman on lap seven and was already fourth. A favor to Aleix Espargaró, who was seventh, behind Viñales.

Rins gave a twist to his pace and extended the lead to 8 tenths over Bagnaia's Ducati and one second over Miller's. From behind, Maverick Viñales went on the attack and overtook Quartararo (v. 9) to occupy fifth position, while Aleix lost ground when Mir overtook him, so the Aprilia rider fell to 8th position, two places behind his French rival. Espargaró, suffering from his physical condition, kept his distance from his greatest rival.

Halfway through the race (v. 10/20), Rins' advantage in the lead was minimal over the two official Ducati, with Martín on the lookout. The first five rode, until Viñales, in a group distanced from Quartararo, 1.6 behind the Barcelona leader. Pecco's blow for victory came on lap 12, when he overtook Rins with a clean interior. The Italian soon opened a gap of 4 tenths.

In the chasing group, Miller took over from Rins, 2nd; Viñales gained a place by passing Martín, 4th; and his teammate Aleix lost another two (9th), surpassed by Oliveira and by a Bastianini who was emboldened and managed to pass Quartararo (6th). Another small favor for the man from Granollers, who followed two places behind the Frenchman.

In the last four laps, Bagnaia kept the type in front with 4 tenths over Miller, Rins lost the podium position surpassed by a grown Viñales who returned to the box, and Martín also surpassed Suzuki, who was deflated (5th) .

Viñales gave everything for everything. With three laps to go he ate Miller to take second. He had Bagnaia within 6 tenths, with just three laps to go. He put the Aprilia in with two laps to go, but the Ducati regained control. On the last lap, the Italian distanced himself by 5 tenths and he could no longer try to take away the victory. In any case, it is the second podium followed by the rider from Roses after 3rd from Assen.

Aleix Espargaró finished 9th, just one position –and one tenth of a second- behind Quartararo, who was overtaken in the final laps by Oliveira's KTM. So the one from Granollers only loses one point with the leader. He saved the furniture with his two sore feet. The fight for the World Cup remains open, now with Bagnaia in third place, 49 points behind the leader, instead of Zarco, who is falling behind.