SILVERSTONE, England – Fabio Quartararo padded his position at the top of the MotoGP standings with his fifth victory of the season Sunday at the Silverstone Circuit.
Qurartaro started third and was up to second by the opening corner. He gave up two positions down the backstraight, but he quickly went to work climbing the ladder.
He first dispatched Francesco Bagnaia with 18 laps left before setting off in pursuit of Aleix and Pol Espargaró. He moved around Aleix Espargaró for second one lap later before driving past Pol Espargaro in turn 12 on the next lap to take the race lead.Â
He pulled away from there, cruising to a comfortable 2.6-second triumph ahead of Alex Rins to extend his championship lead to 65 points over Joan Mir.Â
“This win felt great. In Austria I was thinking of the championship when we were switching bikes, but here I thought of nothing,” said Quartararo. “I was feeling great on the bike, and I enjoyed fighting for the victory. It was perfect. I enjoy racing like that, living in the moment. I felt great at the start and stayed calm. I only made a few mistakes, and I felt like I was really good on braking. It was better than expected, and because of that I had kind of a change in strategy during the race. When I had a 3s lead I said, ’Okay, now it‘s time to go slowly and not make any mistakes‘, and then on the last lap I was just enjoying the track, still riding slowly.
“I‘m so happy about this result. It‘s a really special win. When I won in Assen, I already had some fans there. I don‘t know how many fans there were here today, but it was massive, and it was great to share this moment with them. I want to thank them. For a Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider, it‘s always nice to win a Monster Energy Grand Prix, so I basically got it all, it‘s amazing! It‘s a great win for them, and also for my family and the team. I have a mechanic who couldn‘t come here, Daniele Grelli, so this one is for him. I can‘t wait to be with the crew to celebrate.”
Aleix Espargaró claimed the final spot on the podium in third, with Jack Miller finishing fourth and Pol Espargaró finishing fifth.