Enea Bastianini Doubles Up with Stunning British MotoGP Win

The thrilling MotoGP title fight took another twist on Sunday afternoon at Silverstone as Enea Bastianini won the British Grand Prix in superb style. Jorge Martin was overtaken by Bastianini in the final laps but his second combined with world champion Francesco Bagnaia dropping to third means that Martin now has the championship lead, albeit by just three points.

Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) made it a dream double in Silverstone with victory in the Grand Prix race ahead of Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) who clinched the championship lead.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) stole the holeshot at lights out, but it was Martin who broke away from the field in the second half of the race.

Bastianini reeled his opponent back in and forced him into an error at Turn 3 on the penultimate lap. With the Pramac rider going wide, Bastianini took the open invitation to take the lead and brought it home.

"It's been a very difficult race because I made some mistakes at the start and was in fourth place," he reflected in parc ferme. "But afterwards, I was confident to be able to be back at it again.

"I closed the gap to Aleix [Espargaro] and I closed the gap to Pecco [Bagnaia]. On the last three or four laps, Jorge [Martin] pushed a lot and it was too difficult to close the gap to him.

"But at the end, in the last two laps I always have something more and today has been the same. It's fantastic; incredible to be back at the top in the real GP."

Bagnaia had a dream launch off the line at lights out and stole the holeshot ahead of Bastianini. While Bagnaia managed to hold onto the position, Bastianini fell behind Martin and pole sitter Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing).

A group of five with Bagnaia, Martin, Espargaro, Bastianini and Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) broke away from the field, but Bagnaia and Martin stepped things up even further halfway through the race and put distance between themselves and the rest of the quintet.

Martin looked in better shape at the front and took the lead off Bagnaia at Turn 3 going into Lap 12 and immediately gained on his opponent.

Behind, Bastianini had responded to the top duo escaping and slotted past Espargaro. He quickly dispatched the Aprilia and took chunks out of the Ducatis ahead.

He caught Bagnaia and when the title defender went wide at Luffield on Lap 14, Bastianini did not hesitate to make his way past and eyed up Martin ahead.

Martin countered Bastianini for the next few laps but eventually could not match the factory rider's late-race pace. Bastianini reeled him in with three laps to go and started piling on the pressure.

Eventually, Martin was forced into an error on the penultimate lap when he could not stop his bike into Village and went wide. Bastianini went through and brought the position over the line.

Finishing runner-up, Martin still regained the championship lead, now topping the table by three points from Bagnaia.

"Today, paying tribute to Angel Nieto [with the special livery], it was fantastic to finish on the podium," he said post-race.

"I knew Enea [Bastianini] was a bit stronger at the end of the race. When I was with Pecco [Bagnaia] I tried to manage the fuel consumption and when I saw a chance, I tried.

"The pace was outstanding as always, I think we are reaching a level that is crazy and we are always on the limit. And as soon as I saw Enea was catching, I tried to stay consistent and manage a bit for the end, but he was much stronger today, he was on another level.

"We took back the championship lead, so I'm very happy with that. We move onto Austria."

Bagnaia struggled heavily in the late stages and took the checkered flag almost six seconds behind. Still, he managed to hold a charging Marquez behind him to secure a podium finish.

"I was trying to manage the rear tyre well, but then I started to lose the front," he admitted. "The front was dropping a bit and when Martin overtook me, I just tried to follow him. But I lost the front again at Turn 7 and then said, okay, I already crashed yesterday, it's better to finish the race.

"It was very difficult in the last few laps, also with the rear grip.

"But anyway, I'm happy. The weather made the race better - it was colder, so it was easier to manage the tires. I hope to see a better result in the next race."