Motorcycling-Ducati's Bastianini wins British Grand Prix, Martin second to lead championship (updated)

Enea AB

04/08/2024 14:22

(Adds position details in paragraph 7, quotes throughout)
       SILVERSTONE, England, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Enea Bastianini
of Ducati won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday to
complete a weekend double, taking the chequered flag ahead of
new world championship leader Jorge Martin and twice MotoGP
champion Francesco Bagnaia.
    Having qualified second on the grid, Bagnaia had taken the
lead over pole-sitter Aleix Espargaro on the opening lap but
found himself in the battle for third in the second part of the
race after Martin overtook him with eight laps to go.
    Martin, who had shown promising pace throughout the weekend,
then looked on course to victory but made a costly mistake in
the final moments, with Bastianini capitalising after qualifying
third.
    "It has been a very difficult race because I made some
mistakes in the start and was in the fourth place, but after I
was confident...," said Bastianini, who also won the sprint on
Saturday.
    "I closed the gap to Aleix and to Pecco (Bagnaia). The last
four-five laps Jorge pushed a lot and it was too difficult to
close the gap to him."
    Six-times MotoGP champion Marc Marquez had started seventh
but rode his Gresini Racing bike with purpose to finish fourth.
    Aprilia's Espargaro, who smashed the lap record in the final
moments of the second qualifying to clinch his second pole
position of the season on Saturday, came in sixth behind Fabio
Di Giannantonio.
    Martin now leads the championship by three points, with
reigning champion Bagnaia dropping to second place and
Bastianini maintaining his hold on third. Marquez sits fourth in
the standings.
    "I knew Enea was a bit stronger at the end of the race,"
Martin said. "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 keep it
constant and to manage a bit for the end, but he was much
stronger today. Congrats to Ducati and Enea because he was on
another level.
    "We take back the (championship) lead, so I'm really happy
with this and we move on to Austria."
        
  

 (Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by
Gareth Jones, Andrew Cawthorne and Alison Williams)
 ((PearlJosephine.Nazare@thomsonreuters.com;))